Two Lives
by Incross
Summary: Years have passed since the last time Jack went to visit his grandfather's farm, and now he comes again as an heir. But another person came into his life; someone new in his memory, and maybe even new to his world.
1. Record 1

**Author's Note

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It's Incross again here. Skip this chapter if you don't want to read for the short explanations I have here. Okay, I just want to tell you:

::o:: This is a fan fiction for _Harvest Moon: Back to Nature_, so I won't put in characters out of the title. Oh well, I guess you know about it already ^_^ -slapped-

::o:: Although I'm not good at making a review for the next chapter, I'll put it at the end of each chapter just to tell you what's going on and to "make" me keep writing the story.

::o:: Sometimes I'll put an extra story at the end of some chapters, and titled it: "_Harvest_ _N. G."_; it's actually a slight comedy I made from a piece of scene in the same chapter.

::o:: English is not my mother tongue, you see. So if you ever find mistakes on the grammars just tell me so I can fix it ^_^

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I guess that's all, and I hope that you'll enjoy the story.

Have a nice day!

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-Incross-

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Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon series, okay.

**Harvest Moon~Two Lives**

**Record 1 : The Meetings**

Jack put down the stray puppy he had found before, and started to take a good look of his past grandfather's farm. It was a total mess, something he had expected before. He had just arrived at that remote town some hours ago, and had the town's Mayor to show him around the neighborhood. He must admit that the town seemed to shrink; it looked even smaller than he had remembered. He didn't expect much, though. Even, he felt he kinda wanted it to be like that.

He moved from his peaceful and rich city not only because he was bored of that sparkling and noisy hometown, but also because he wanted to heir his grandfather's last treasure; his farm. He remembered the times when he had spent his holiday in that same farm. It had not been a long holiday, though, but it had been enough for him to grow his curiosity for his grandfather.

A simple question, yet he still couldn't find the answer.

Jack released a slight sigh and encouraged himself. It had been him who decided to run the farm into its best shape, so he shouldn't complain much. He let the stray dog played around the bushes and walked out his new farm through the north gate.

---

Jack walked back to his farm. Some minutes ago he had had arrived at the front door of the supermarket but soon realized that he had forgotten to bring his payment card. "Silly me," he muttered.

A payment card. That's what people in the town use to pay things, instead of cash money. It was a rule made by the previous Mayor to prevent robberies, it seemed. No one would accept cash for payment, but the public services usually had the special tool to do the payment through card. Jack had been informed that the payment for his harvest things would be transferred to his card right after Zack the buyer brought his crops and reported it. Jack himself had just made his own card some days ago, and seemed that he still hadn't used to it.

He opened the house's door and was stunned when he saw someone sleeping on his bed. Feeling confused, he walked out and closed the door. He was sure that was his new farm, so that meant that the house was his, too. He took a peek again inside, and the stranger was still there. He must have had forgot to lock his door, then.

But the stranger didn't budge, even after the creaking sound of the door. Jack bravely walked inside and stopped right beside his bed, only to see a blonde young girl sleeping there. She was wet, a little; and her breathing was very slow.

Jack noticed that the girl didn't seem like any harm at all, instead, she was quite pale. Jack bent down and took a good look of the girl's face. That was when the girl opened her eyes weakly. Jack quickly walked some steps backwards, feeling a little bit surprised.

The girl blinked a few times, her eyes weren't really open for her eyelids felt heavy. Jack swallowed and said with a clear voice, "Are you awake now?"

The girl turned her head slowly to Jack's direction. "Where… am I?" she asked. She sounded hoarse.

Jack pulled a wooden box which had already been there since he first came, and sat on it. "This is Mineral Town. And this is my house. Oh, I'm Jack, by the way."

The girl blinked again, and turned her head to face the ceiling. "Your house…" she paused. Jack waited. "Why am I in your house…?"

That's what I want to know, Jack thought. He decided not to answer, for he didn't know how come the girl came into his house. She seemed too weak, even she might not be able to stand on her own.

Suddenly the door opened and two people rushed toward the bed. Jack only needed a few seconds before he realized that they were Thomas the Mayor, and Zack.

"Thank goodness! You're awake!" said Thomas. He was breathing fast and sweat rolled down on his round cheeks. "How are you feeling right now?"

The girl seemed confused. She seemed hesitated just to answer the simple question. Jack coughed, and managed to bring Thomas' attention to him. Thomas turned at him and said, "Oh."

"Mind telling me what's going on?" Jack asked. The Mayor nodded his chubby cheeks and wiped his face with a white handkerchief. Meanwhile, Zack checked the temperature of the girl, who seemed very anxious.

Thomas started. "So, actually…"

---

Jack hummed when Thomas finished his story. It was not very clear; Jack assumed that was because the Mayor was still surprised by the sudden appearance of the girl, but he could summarize it well enough.

It seemed that Zack had found the girl on the shore that morning when he was back from the supermarket, and gone to tell the Mayor about the news. He had carried her to a safe place, which is Jack's house, and after laying the girl on the bed, the two of them ran back to Thomas' house to take some medicines that might help. When they arrived, Jack had already sitting there and the girl had regained her consciousness.

Thomas said that the clinic had been closed when they had arrived there, so they brought the girl to Jack's house instead. Your place was the only thing that went into my mind, was what Thomas said.

Jack glanced at the girl, who was finally able to sit. The girl seemed to notice this and turned her head to face Jack. Her blue eyes were clear, and her cheeks had its color back. Jack quickly averted his eyes and looked back at Thomas.

Thomas turned to the girl and said, "But, what happened actually? We were very surprised when we found you lying unconscious on the shore…"

The girl seemed lost in her thoughts for a moment. She gazed at the empty spot on the blanket which was still covering her laps, and slowly widened her eyes. Her right hand reached her forehead, as she narrowed her eyes; squeezing it as though she'd get something by doing so. Zack noticed this and asked her if she was feeling alright, but she shook her head in reply. She sighed, and then looked the three men with disappointment. "I can't remember."

"You mean, you lost your memory?" Jack asked. She nodded. The young man, feeling slightly curious, asked again, "All of them?"

This time, the girl shook again. "I do remember some things, but those are very limited and I—"

She stopped, and blinked. "I remember it now! I think I fell from this large ship into the ocean, and…" she held her breath and paused. "…and then I was awake in this room."

Jack loosened his shoulders. So she had been thrown out to the ocean, it seemed. Mayor Thomas asked some questions again about her hometown, her family, her past… but none of those were answered. She kept shaking her head for reply.

"But this is a problem…" Thomas curled his eyebrows, seemingly worried. He put his handkerchief back into his pocket. "Where should you stay? I didn't recall this town to have any empty house for you to live."

"Why don't just stay here with Jack?" Zack asked. Jack opened his mouth in shock even before Zack could finish his line. A young man lives together with a young girl, under the same roof? That would be a trouble, to both of them. He could imagine the townsfolk gossiping about Jack spreading the bad habit of a big city in their small and peaceful town. Jack quickly shook his head in disagreement and voiced his opinion. Mayor Thomas nodded, and Zack tried to figure another way.

"She could stay at the inn!" Zack exclaimed quickly. But Mayor Thomas shook his head again, this time slower. "I don't know… I suppose that she doesn't have any payment card for the rent."

And so, the three of them went silent, busy thinking of another alternative; when suddenly a soft voice broke their thoughts. "I'm sorry."

Jack turned his face to hers, and saw the young girl smiling wearily. "I guess I've been making nothing but trouble to you all," she said softly. "I'll recover soon, so I would be really happy if you could just let me stay until I'm able to walk and I'll leave this place right away."

None of them spoke a word. Both the Mayor and Jack seemed to regret what they had said before, while Zack seemed flustered. They should have had known that it wasn't very polite of them, to talk as if she hadn't been there. The girl looked again at the empty spot on her laps, expressionless. The room was filled with an awkward silence, for none of them knew what to tell her; but not with Jack. He had been silent because he wanted to figure something out for her, but he wondered why no one encouraged her. He watched the situations and finally knew that it should be himself, or no one would.

"If the problem's just about paying the rent for a room at the inn, I guess I still could mend for that, though," Jack said, breaking the icy tense. Everyone in the room turned their heads to him. Jack was fluttered. He really didn't mean to brag about his wealth or something, in fact, he only deposited a little money enough to make a standard living in the town. He didn't want them to misunderstand, so he added some more sentences. "I mean, I have a farm here, you see. It may seem abandoned right now, but I'm sure it will improve gradually if I work hard. I will share some of the payments to you, so you could still live here. How's that?"

The girl slightly opened her mouth as a response; she seemed surprised. On the other hand, Mayor Thomas found his spirit back and quickly exclaimed, "That's a brilliant idea, Jack!"

Jack smiled, feeling a little bit embarrassed. The girl swallowed and found her voice in her throat again. "Using your payments?" she asked, sounded as if she has had won a lottery.

"But I guess Jack's alone won't be enough…" said Zack. Mayor Thomas laughed at this and tapped on the big guy's hand. "That's fine! We'll ask everyone in the town to help, too!"

"Everyone in the town??" the girl's voice rose as she opened her mouth in a total shock. "I can't let you do that! It's like I'm… No, they would be troubled if they do so! Please don't, I don't want to—"

"Naah," Mayor Thomas giggled and looked at the girl gently. "I'm sure they'd understand. We are a nice people, you see." And then he laughed again. The girl bit her lips and seemed troubled. After Mayor Thomas managed to control his breath, she spoke again.

"If that's the case, then please let me do the work, too," she looked at their eyes with full of determinations. "I can't just accept your kindness. I want to return it too."

She then smiled; this time it was truly from her heart. Zack giggled, so did Thomas. Jack himself smiled; he soon felt the warmth came over them and also in his heart. Later, Jack asked the girl to come with him. He wanted the owner (whom he recalled named Doug) to see the girl and talk to her so he might consider to let her stay. The blonde girl nodded in agreement and joined him soon after Mayor Thomas and Zack had left the house. Along the way, Jack showed and pointed some houses just like Mayor Thomas done to him. She repeated every each of the names and processed the new information in her head; it almost seemed as if she was preventing another memory-loss by doing so.

A breezing wind blew softly on them, and Jack inhaled as much as he could; filling his lungs with the fresh air he had rarely got back when he had still in the city. Jack told her a little about the differences between the city he had used to live and the town they currently in. The girl said that she really didn't understand about the city things; but she voiced that if what Jack had told her was true then she would chose to live in Mineral Town, too.

As if something rang a bell in his head, Jack remembered something and asked whether the girl remembered her name. She smiled again and answered with her usual clear voice, "It's Claire."

Finally, Jack pointed a large building not so far away from them. A big signboard was placed above the main door, and the writing says: "INN". Jack carefully opened the door and the two of them went in.

---x:o:x---

To be continued.

_Next on Two Lives:_

"_I'm Karen. Pleased to meet you," she greeted. They spent the day, even the night, together. For the first time, Claire will observe the town all by herself, with Jack's card in her pocket. Some new meetings and Jack will hang his mouth open when he sees the girl on his farm._

"_Two Lives Record 2: A Place to Stay". Read and review, please!_


	2. Record 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon series, okay.

**Harvest Moon~Two Lives**

**Record 2 : A Place to Stay**

Jack folded a piece of bed sheet he had brought before into a shape of a thick square and placed it on his right side. After making sure that the other sheet had been arranged, he laid on them and started to look for a comfy side. Someone from the corner of the room coughed, and peeked from her blanket. Jack glanced at her.

"Will you be really okay there?" the girl, Claire, asked. Jack nodded although he knew that she couldn't see it. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Oh…" Claire paused. "Okay, good night, Jack."

"Good night, Claire."

Jack remembered how things had turned out that morning. After he and Claire had arrived at the inn and explained the situations, Doug, the owner, curled his eyebrows. That second, Jack had known right away that there had been a problem. And it had been true, indeed. Doug explained that the inn had been full; the last room had just being rented. He pointed with his chin, a young man who sat not too far from them. He walked over them and apologized, something which had made Claire made a face that said 'I-am-okay-so-please-don't-apologize', and Jack just nodded. It seemed that he had been the one who rented the last room. Actually, he had offered Claire to take his room instead, but Claire declined. If Claire agreed, Jack would be furious. Well, not _that _furious. It was just that it wouldn't feel right to take someone else's place to live and let the young man look for his again. Doug had had told them that Cliff himself is a traveler, so he, too, doesn't have his own place to live.

So, they begun to depart again and look for another place. The two visited the church, and asked again. Father Carter said that he had a spare room at the back of the church, so he led them there. Unfortunately, it had been far from what they had expected; even for Father Carter. Jack wasn't sure whether he still could call it a 'room', for it seemed to be abandoned for a decade, or so. It was dark and hot inside the room, Jack still recalled. The bed had been broken, and there were rats everywhere.

Without any second thought, Father Carter had quickly closed the door and locked it. He had apologized for the condition and said that it might be usable once it had been cleaned. Jack had thought that cleaning it alone wouldn't be enough; they would also need to prepare a new bed and make at least a window. But then again, it seemed very poor and pitiful; Jack had imagined that Claire would look even more pitiful than then if she lived in that place.

So they had spent the next hours looking for a home for Claire, but it seemed to be in vain. Absorbed by disappointment and tire, they stopped and sat on the bench near the supermarket. A few minutes had past, and suddenly an idea had come, popping inside Jack's mind: the last alternative. He remembered he had turned his head to Claire, and said, "Why don't you just stay in my house?"

So, that was the conclusion. And that very conclusion had made Claire got the bed, while Jack got his, well, floor. Why, he couldn't have let the girl sleep on the floor. That's just against a man's principle. After all, she had not seemed to completely recover yet.

Jack narrowed his eyes. The room was not completely dark, for a pale light sneaked in from the window. Jack watched the dust which kept swirling and falling, shining in the moonlight. It was like hundreds of stars dancing in his little house. His eyes were heavy, but he tried his best to keep them opened. He wanted to see this kind of thing a little bit longer; for he had never seen it before. Jack thought that maybe he and Claire was similar in some ways. They both found new things and experiences in that little town of Mineral Town.

Jack blinked a few times and after a minute, he soon fell into a deep sleep.

---

Claire gazed at the back of the young man; her hands were clutching her hair which swayed loosely near her ears. It was the middle of the day, and Jack had told her to just wait at the house because she had not fully recovered from her fatigue. After they had had their breakfast, Jack directly went to the farm and with a big scissors in hand, he bent down and had started to cut the grass which filled almost every part of the field. It had been hours ago, and even then, he was still doing it.

"Jack, just take a break if you're tired," Claire said, anxiously. Jack rubbed the sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand, and slightly turned to Claire. "I will," he said. "And stop pulling your hair or it will fall out."

Claire let go of her hair and clutched her clothes instead. She regretted her condition; she wanted to help him doing his job. She felt that Jack had been kind to let her stay for free at his house until they found a new place for her, but she knew that she couldn't just let it be that way. So, the other night, Claire had told him that she wanted to help his farming for change. Jack agreed; he admitted that he would need help for it was his first time doing a job like farming. But that morning, he told her that she could just wait at the house, walking around is okay if she ever feel bored.

Like she would actually walk around when he worked hard like that.

Jack seemed to know what goes in the girl's mind, turned his head again and said, "You want to help me?" Claire nodded quickly in response. Jack continued. "Once I finish this spot, I'll start farming. But I don't have the seeds yet," his face was red because of the heat. "The supermarket sells them. It'll be really helpful if you could go there and buy some for me. Is that okay?"

"Sure!" Claire smiled. Finally, a thing to do!

"My payment card is there in the shelf, inside a book with red cover. Oh, take the umbrella if you ever feel hot…" Jack stopped. He thought for a while. "…wait, I don't have any umbrella."

Claire giggled. She directly went in and took Jack's payment card and put it inside her pocket. After making sure it was safe, she directly headed to the door and said good-bye to Jack before going out. She walked down the steps near Jack's farm and excitedly swings her feet. Just after she got down from the steps, she noticed a young man, probably at the same age as Jack, was hanging his mouth open. His eyes were fixed on her figure. He didn't even budge; Claire thought that he looked a lot like a statue that way. Claire greeted him and bowed politely, but when she looked again, he had already disappeared.

The girl blinked, feeling confused. But she decided not to think much about it and continued on her way.

After some minutes walking, finally she reached the place with a signboard titled: Supermarket, and went in. A man who stood behind the cashier table greeted her and she bowed politely. She headed to a large selling table, and searched a spot which sells seeds for spring. She was busy examining when a gentle voice greeted her.

"Good morning, buying something?"

Claire searched the voice and her eyes finally met with the owner of the voice. She was young, but seemed mature so Claire assumed that she was older then herself. Her hair seemed smooth and very beautiful, and her green eyes were so relaxing. That figure smiled. "I'm Karen. Pleased to meet you. You're new in this neighborhood?"

"Um, yes," Claire nodded at the striking beauty, and almost forgot to smile. "My name's Claire."

"Little Claire," Karen repeated and giggled. "So, where do you live?"

That question felt like a shot to Claire. Both Jack and she would come into trouble if Karen found out. "Uh… nearby," she giggled awkwardly and hoped that the topic would end soon. At that time, Jack's payment card accidentally fell from her pocket and made a thin sound when it reached the floor. Claire bent down to take it, but Karen was a little bit faster. Her green eyes caught a glimpse of the writing on the card, and she was surprised when her eyes could read it well. Claire held her breath. She must have had read Jack's name on it. Claire sighed, knowing that there was nothing that she could hide anymore.

She summarized the story and told Karen the truth. Karen nodded with full understandings, and she smiled again. "I see. Must have been a hard time... I will help you to find a place when I have spare time, 'kay?"

Claire nodded in relief. She asked Karen to keep it as a secret since Jack had not told anyone about her living in his house. She guessed that it would be better if it was Jack himself who told the story; not her, because she knew, even if it was only a little, that Jack was that kind of man who will feel responsible for things like this. Karen agreed and promised to keep it a secret until Jack told everyone.

"So, uh, is that his clothes you're wearing?" Karen carefully chose her words. Claire giggled. "I didn't bring my clothes when I fell to the ocean at that time. Ha ha ha."

Karen smiled wearily and looked at Claire's clothing again. Claire guessed that it might not really matched her; a loose white shirt—which made her looked even thinner— and a simple brown shorts with two pockets on each side. But she must admit that they were kind of comfy. They were easy to move around, so she really didn't mind. Besides, she had been put in a situation that she could not choose anything else.

"Little Claire," Karen's voice was clear; as clear as her green eyes when they met with Claire's. "Come with me for a while, won't you?"

---

Jack heard some footsteps and stopped and rested his hands on the hoe. He rubbed his sweat and turned to see the girl. It was Claire, alright, but what attracted him were the large paper bags she was holding on her hands. Not only the fact that she brought three big paper bags which surprised him, but also how full those bags were. Jack quickly walked to her. When he got there, Claire had already put the bags near the door. Jack was about to ask when Claire started to explain.

"A girl at supermarket, Karen, gave me her spare clothes and said that I can have them," she explained, and smiled happily. "She's very nice. She even called me 'little Claire'."

Jack sighed in relief. He had thought that the girl ended up buying many things out of what he had asked before. "I see. That's a good thing. And where are my seeds?"

"They're here," Claire searched one of the paper bags. Jack glanced at the clothes which filled those bags, and thought that even for spare clothes; those were kind of too much. This Karen she talked about must be a very generous one, then. Meanwhile, Claire finally managed to take the seed bags out and gave it to Jack.

"Those are cucumbers' and potatoes' seeds," she started. She pointed at the green bag and continued, "Cucumbers are cheap, very easy to plant and they bear fruits occasionally. Meanwhile, potatoes will only produce once and they are slightly more expensive than cucumbers, but their selling price is higher. Planting those is always safe even for beginners. That's what Mr. Jeff, Karen's father said."

Jack smiled, and reached for the payment card Claire had given to him. He didn't bother to ask the expenses; he had trusted her. "Thanks, Claire."

"Anytime," she smiled. "Is there anything else that I can help you with?"

Wow, she is sure eager about this, Jack thought. He had never met a girl who liked this kind of work. At least, never in his city. "Sure, I've done hoeing the soil, so it's about time to give 'em the seeds. After that, we'll water them."

"Great! On which spot should I give the seeds?" Claire answered happily. Jack pointed on the one nearest to them and said again, "Remember, only four seeds per square."

Claire blinked. _Square?_ She followed Jack's direction and was surprised to the fact that he had really hoed the soil into square shapes. This man is really unbelievable, she thought. She noticed Jack's looks when he gazed at her curiously. "What's the matter?" he asked.

"N-nothing!" Claire laughed awkwardly. She put the bags inside, and then joined Jack in the field without changing her clothes.

---x:o:x---

To be continued.

_Next on Two Lives:_

"_It's Max," Jack said._

_Claire blinked. "No, it's Brownies," she petted on the dog. "It's because its color is brownies-like."_

_Some weeks have passed and finally it's Harvest Goddess Festival time. Meanwhile, the crops have grown so well and it keeps Jack's hand full for the time being. "Two Lives Record 3: Harvest Goddess Festival". Read and review, please!_


	3. Record 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon series, okay.

**Harvest Moon~Two Lives**

**Record 3: ****Harvest Goddess Festival**

Jack sat on the wooden chair he had made some days ago, and watched the girl as he had nothing else to see. It was still morning, and the air was as fresh as ever. He leaned back, and his chair made a small creaky sound. Jack looked down, but he found nothing wrong with the chair. Although he knew that he wasn't a good carpenter, but he had insisted making the chair since he thought that they would need it someday. Besides, asking an actual carpenter to does the job would cost some money; and Jack really didn't want to spend any more money for anything that he could make by himself.

His brown eyes followed Claire's movement, as the girl was busy watering the crops. The water which made a small rain above the crops were sparkling as the sun shone on it. Done watering one side, the girl walked some steps to water another. She had been doing this since some weeks ago, after she told Jack that she wanted to do something to help him with his farm. Jack really didn't mind, truly, he thought that he would need some help with the crops. Before, Jack made a mistake by planting too little cucumbers and potatoes. And when he decided to plant some more, he ended up planting too much. It seemed that he would still have a long way to become a good farmer.

Claire chuckled, and that awaken Jack from his thoughts. The puppy he had adopted before had kept following her ever since she came to meet it, and then it was running around Claire's feet. Jack smiled out of his concerns seeing them happily playing around.

"Whoa! You'll make me fall, Brownies," she said, chuckling. Jack blinked. He leaned forward, "What did you call him?"

"Brownies," she answered, and she continued watering the crops. It seemed to Jack that she was trying to her best in watering with the dog running around her feet, and maybe she didn't realize this, but she had been watering the same spot. Maybe she couldn't concentrate well. Jack just rubbed his cheek although it wasn't itchy. Claire seemed to realize her mistake, as she directly moved to another spot.

Jack stood and walked toward the two. He bent near the dog and watched as it became tired and finally stopped running around. He thought about Claire's words again. "Well, actually I already named him since the first day I came here…" he muttered.

Claire turned her head. "Me too, since the first day I came here," she replied. Jack looked at her, and she just grinned playfully. She had become more and more natural as the time passed, and that relieved the young farmer a bit. Claire put down her watering can and played with the dog's tail.

"Well, sorry to hear that, but that dog's name is not 'Brownies'," Jack said again, decided to play along. "It's Max."

Claire blinked. "No, it's Brownies," she petted on the dog. "It's because its color is brownies-like."

_Brownies, huh? _Well, it's true that the dog's color is brown, but that is not as dark as brownies, so giving it that name would surely made a big question mark. And besides, it is a male. Calling a male, even if it's just a dog, "Brownies" seemed… well, weird. Jack decided to leave the decision to the dog itself. Jack stretched one of his arms and called it 'Max', but it didn't respond. Jack tried again, but it was the same. Claire seemed to know what goes in Jack's mind; she called the dog "Brownies", and suddenly it barked.

So that left Claire as the winner. Jack mumbled while Claire happily hugged the dog.

---x:o:x---

Claire walked around the neighborhood and visited the supermarket. Before, after the works with farming had finally done, Jack said to her that he would go to the hills to collect some woods, and that she could take a walk as well, as long as she locked the house firmly. Claire had agreed with him and so they separated ways.

Claire opened the door, and a bell chimed. She bowed politely to Mr. Jeff who was standing behind the cashier counter. He smiled and asked her to look around and to take her time. The supermarket looked neat and clean as usual, and there was nothing in much different, except a small shelf at the corner. She approached and examined it. The shelf was full with pretty accessories; most of them were flower-like. Just above the shelf hung a small information board and it said: "Harvest Goddess Festival Goodies". The girl curled her eyebrows as she didn't really understand the meaning. She gazed again at those beautiful accessories. She guessed that a festival was about to held, since the supermarket never sells these things before. But what could a Harvest Goddess Festival meant?

Claire didn't have any idea. But her eyes were focused on a certain hairpin. She looked at the price, it wasn't so expensive. A single thought of buying it made her gasped out of concerns. Her hand, which was about to take the hairpin suddenly stopped and she quickly pulled it back. There was no way that she could buy useless thing like that. Besides, it wasn't her money that she'd use, but Jack's. That hairpin was absolutely pretty and beautiful, but she made herself sure that she didn't need things like that. She smiled, and then walked outside.

Some days had passed by, and nothing drastic happened in Jack's and Claire's daily life. Jack had started collecting some woods after farming works and sometimes he brought back some herbs or bamboo shoots, which ended up being sold or eaten by them. While Claire, after she had done helping Jack with his farm, she spent her time hanging around or reading in library. And because of her routine, she could consider herself knew more about what goes in town than Jack knew. Little did she know that a Harvest Goddess Festival is a dancing festival where girls would appear in goddess-like dress and spend almost the whole day at the Rose Square, dancing and singing.

Claire sighed. It was already night time, and tomorrow would be the day of festival. She would like to attend the festival, but she had no dress to wear. She had asked Jeff before about it, but he said that he didn't sell any. Most of the town folks usually sewn their own. And that left Claire with no other option, as she knew that she couldn't sew complicated clothing such as dress.

From her bed, she could hear Jack's heavy breath. He was fast asleep. She remembered that Jack had told her before that he planned to buy some chickens when he had enough money. That was why he had been working harder than the last weeks.

Claire stared again at the ceiling, not being able to sleep. But at least she tried. And just as she closed her eyes, she heard the door being knocked. She sat up and listened again. Then it was knocked again. So her ears weren't playing tricks on her. She hesitated; who could be out there in this late night? She thought to wake Jack up, but he looked very tired. Claire gulped. She grabbed a shovel and carefully opened the door.

"Good evening," said the person. Claire blinked. It was Gotz, a carpenter who lives just behind the farm. "I'm sorry to bother you at this late night," he said again, somewhat sad.

Claire opened the door wider so she could see him clearly. The man sighed a heavy sigh, and handed Claire a box. "Tomorrow's the festival, and I guess that you don't have any dress to wear, right?"

"Well, I, uh…" Claire yanked. She had no idea that Gotz would know something like that. Gotz continued again, "This was my wife's. It was, before she died…" He raised his face, and looked at the girl with a firm looks. "I want you to keep it. Here, have it."

"But," Claire quickly answered. "that's an important memento—"

"It's okay," Gotz replied. The looks on his face hadn't change. "No one's going to wear it, anyway."

He pushed the box to Claire's hand, and the girl took it carefully. She gazed at it; the beautiful patterns on the surface of the box, and a ribbon which tied neatly. There were some dust, but that really didn't matter at all. She looked at Gotz again. His figure wasn't that clear since the only light came from the moon; but Claire could see his lips made a simple smile. Claire embraced the box tightly and smiled. She saw his pure intention and kindness and was touched. Her cheeks felt warm. "Thank you… Thank you very much, Gotz."

The night had turned into a beautiful morning, and Claire had put on the dress Gotz given her before. It suited her well. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and smiled awkwardly.

---x:o:x---

"Jack!" Claire happily ran to the field. She saw Jack's figure not so far from the house. "Jack, you won't believe this! Last night—"

"Sorry, but can you keep it for later, Claire?" the young man said, without even turning his back to see her. "I'm a bit busy right now."

Claire stopped. She felt as if someone had thrown her a bucket full of cold water. Her smile was still there; but it was not more than a remaining. "Oh, y-yeah, sure," she had lost her words. Her spirit suddenly dropped. She gazed at Jack, who was still busy harvesting his crops. The basket near him was almost full. But it seemed that Jack would still have to do some rounds before finished harvesting all of the crops. Seeing how much the crops were, Claire assumed that it would take some hours.

"You're busy, right," Claire stepped backwards. She chuckled, but strangely it felt weary when she did it. Her eyes were focused on the young man's back for a while, before averted it to the soil around her dancing shoes. She bit her lips.

Jack stood up to straighten his bones. He remembered something and turned his back. "Oh, that's right, I just remembered that…"

He stopped his sentence when he realized that the girl had already disappeared. He curiously took a quick look of the farm, but he couldn't find the girl. He scratched his head and stared absent mindedly at the air in front of him.

Meanwhile, Claire's breath fastened as she ran. It was a little bit hard to run in those dress, but she forced herself. She wanted to run a little bit far, farther from the farm. Far, some little more, just a little bit more. Finally, she stopped, losing her breath. She could felt her body was heating up, and a drop of sweat rolled down from her cheek. She rubbed it, and tried to control her breathings.

"Claire, you stupid…" She muttered. She knew she should have not upset because of small things like this, but instead she did. She thought that maybe she had gotten too attached to Jack, that one rejection from him would drop her spirit like that. She reminded herself again and again not to always depend on the young man, although she knew that he wanted her to do so. She could imagine Jack being worry since she had left without saying anything. Maybe he'd even blamed it to himself. _Poor Jack,_ she thought. But somehow something had kept her from going back to the farm. She sighed, and walked to a nearby tap and washed her face.

Hours passed and it was time for the festival already. Almost every single villager had gathered in the Rose Square, including Claire. But Jack wasn't there. He might not come, Claire guessed; she even doubted that he knew there was a festival like this. She decided not to think much about it. At that time, a bright colored haired girl walked over her. She also wore the kind of Goddess dress. Her hair was braided neatly. If Claire remembered it right, her name is Ann.

"Hi," she greeted. "Claire, right?" She looked excited, although it seemed that she had not yet used wearing dancing shoes, for her steps tapped awkwardly. Claire nodded.

"Cliff escorted me," she said, blushing a bit. She gazed at someone near the information board. Claire followed her gaze and saw the same young man whom she had met before at inn. So his name's Cliff. Claire blinked, feeling curious. She felt that she had met him before; far before they met at inn. Thinking that she might be just wondering things, she looked at Ann again. "Everyone looks pretty, aren't they?" she said, chuckling. "It almost looks like there are goddesses gathering here."

So they chatted for a while, before they heard Jeff's voice from a far. They looked at his direction, and there was something that left their mind blank for a moment. Claire needed some seconds to realize that the person she was staring was Karen. She looked different from her usual self. Claire almost thought that she might be a real goddess for sure. At that time, Karen caught her figure and waved to her. Claire waved in response, still amazed. Mayor Thomas began his speech, and just some moments after that, the festival started.

---x:o:x---

It was late afternoon, and the sun had almost set. The guys had been preparing piles of woods, and when they were finished, they lit it up and it became a huge campfire. Claire was standing not so far from it, admiring the fire when a familiar voice startled her. She quickly turned her back and searched the voice. Just behind her, from the dark road which surrounded by trees, came out a figure she remembered clearly. She gasped. "Jack?!"

The young man stopped in front of her, panting. But over all, he smiled his usual smile. "Hi," he said. "Took me a long time to get here, finally."

Claire opened her mouth, but nothing was said. Jack took a quick look at their surroundings. "Is," he panted. "is the festival over already?"

The girl shook her head. She looked at Jack's figure. He was wet with sweat and the end of his sleeves was a bit muddy. What's more, he had not seemed to be able to completely catch his breath yet. "Were you, uh, running?" Claire finally asked. She guessed that he had done harvesting his crops, although she personally thought that harvesting alone wouldn't take that much time. Even until that hour.

"Huh? Yeah," he replied. "You see, Zack's having a day off today, so I had to deliver the crops by myself." He panted again. He swallowed, and released a big sigh to control his breath. "And then I went to get my payments and directly went to Won's place. You know, that man with yellow clothing."

Claire's heart skipped a beat. Usually Zack comes to the farm and picks up the crops by a pick-up car, and then delivers it to someplace out of town. But hearing Jack's story, it seemed that he had done it on his own in Zack's place. She bit her lower lips and asked again, "How did you do that…?"

Jack chuckled. "It's pretty embarrassing but I dragged them to the nearest toll way and searched for some nice people who'd generously lend me their car," He scratched his cheek. "Lucky me, I didn't have to wait for so long."

"You… You dragged them? All by yourself?" Claire's eyes were teary, and made her couldn't see him clearly. But she tried her best to hide that and speak with her usual tone. Her chest felt like throbbed; she knew that since the morning, everyone seemed busy preparing for this festival and stayed at their homes, so Jack maybe could hardly met anyone on his way. She couldn't imagine Jack dragging all the baskets from the farm to that toll way; for it was actually quite far place to walk.

"I wanted to get my payments as soon as possible, that's why," Jack smiled. Claire inhaled; she felt that her tears would fall if she didn't do that. She wrinkled her face and said again in a soft voice, "And why did you do that…?"

"There's something I want to get, and it can't be postponed till tomorrow," he replied again. Claire didn't say anything. Jack searched his pocket, and handed her a small paper bag. It was a flower seeds. Claire stared at it emptily while Jack continued his sentence, "Karen gave me this yesterday. I forgot the name, but it'll bloom into bright yellow colored flowers. And…"

He handed her another paper bag, but this time, it was quite big and a little bit crumpled. It was a bit heavy. Jack asked her to open it, and when she did, she was speechless when she knew that it was a vase. It was dark blue colored, with some flower patterns carved in even darker color. The surface was smooth and gleaming.

"I heard that girls usually like cute things like accessories or clothes or maybe stuffed animals, but," Jack coughed awkwardly. "When I saw that vase some days ago, I thought that it suits you."

Claire bent her head down. Jack blinked nervously when he realized that the girl was trembling. He was about to ask when suddenly Claire burst up with tears. He yanked. "You didn't like it? S-Sorry! My bad! I'll buy you some other things, then!"

"Jack, you idiot!" Claire said and Jack almost jumped when she did. She rubbed her watery eyes; she guessed that anyone who saw her would think that she acted like a little girl who didn't get the ice cream she had wanted. "If you told me before, I could help you doing those works! Didn't I tell you that I want to help you as much as I can?"

"I know, but," he scratched his cheek again. "I wanted to make it a surprise. You see, you've been helping me a lot but I haven't given you anything since you came."

"Using money for something like this…" Claire mumbled in her tears. "You should have kept it for buying something useful…"

Jack gazed carefully at the girl who had finally stopped crying and was currently sobbed a little. She was staring at an empty space between the two of them.

"… Thanks…" she finally said. "… and I'm sorry for suddenly leaving you like this morning. I won't do it again."

After she said that, she directly slapped her cheeks two or three times, making it redder. Jack blinked; he thought that maybe it was her way to cheer up. Both of them managed to control their breath, finally. Jack giggled. He didn't mind when Claire stared at him like a mad cat, for he knew that it wouldn't last long. Finally Claire revealed a smile, and giggled together with him. She felt strange, as if there were butterflies in her stomach. That feeling felt very nice and peaceful; and she wanted to feel it a little bit more.

There was still one chance to dance, which would take place around the huge campfire. The music had started and everyone walked to their places and started dancing with their partner. Jack gazed at them in confusion; but Claire's voice brought his attention back. She was smiling, cheerful like usual, and said, "Let's dance, Jack."

---x:o:x---

To be continued.

_Next on Two Lives:_

"_Oooh… I see," Claire grinned playfully. "You say that because you hold feelings for her, don't you?"_

_Elli's face suddenly turned red, while Jack seemed fluttered. "Th-that's not what I mean!"_

_Summer has come to Mineral Town and some strange things starts happening around Jack. Jack is a rationalist, so he really doesn't believe that things like ghosts actually exist. He knows that many people say summer brings mirage, but he isn't sure about it._

"_Two Lives Record 4: Signs". Read and review, please!_

---x:o:x---

===========_  
_Harvest N.G.

Claire stared at the paper bag emptily while Jack continued his sentence, "Karen gave me this yesterday. I forgot the name, but it'll bloom into bright yellow colored flowers. And…"

Jack handed her another paper bag, but this time, it was quite big and a little bit crumpled. Jack asked her to open it.

"I heard that girls usually like cute things, but," Jack coughed awkwardly. "When I saw that some days ago, I thought that it suits you."

Claire pulled out the thing and was speechless and twitched when she found a fake moustache wrapped inside a plastic. Not wasting any more seconds, she fiercely threw that thing to Jack's face and ran and cried. "Jack, you idioooot-----!!!"

_End of N.G._


	4. Record 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon series, okay.

**Harvest Moon~Two Lives**

**Record 4: ****Signs**

Jack stared at the clouds and let the breezing wind washed away his worn-out muscles. His body was all sweaty; something he had gotten used to. He closed his eyes for a moment, leaning his back on a pine tree. His arms had lost its strength after all the mining things. It was his first time, mining in the cave just behind the waterfall. And he realized that it wasn't that easy at all. He had to keep mining inside that cave; the problem was not because he was doing it alone, instead, he liked being alone when doing works like that, but that strange feeling whenever he found a ladder and climbed down. All of the rooms, they looked similar one to each other. And that happened every time he got into another room.

It was as though he was trapped inside an infinite loop.

Jack glanced at his basket; it was full of those of the minerals that are worth selling for. Jack wouldn't mind if there might be someone who marked him as a greedy man for his daily activity, but he'd like to address himself as someone who cannot just sit around till the next day.

It was still late morning, but he felt his stomach struggling already. He thought that maybe he should bring lunchbox the next time he goes to mine. A ladybug appeared and alighted on his palm hand, climbing his sleeves to his shoulder. He placed a finger and let the ladybug on, and pointed it downwards. The ladybug climbed up his sleeves again. "'_An infinite loop_', huh?" he muttered to himself. He did the same thing again, but this time he pointed upwards, and let the ladybug flew away.

_I should get rid of that feeling soon,_ he thought. Jack finally stood up. He picked his basket and walked down the hill. He stopped in front of the stairs that leads to the hot spring. "I want to take a bath…" he muttered again. He remembered those herbs inside his bag, and also the minerals he had been carrying. He wanted to give some herbs to Dr. Trent, and one of the silvers for old Saibara. It had been a long time since he met them, after all. Claire often reminded him to take bath before going to town, but personally, he thought that no one would complain even if he didn't take it. And if he took bath now, no one would watch over the minerals.

"Better take it later," he said, finally. Just when he turned his head, he saw a glimpse of a figure familiar passed him by. He turned again to greet him. "Hey, Doctor—"

He stopped when he found the road was empty. He took a quick look of his surroundings, and realized that there was no one except him. His eyebrows crossed, slightly. "Was it just my imagination?" he murmured, although he was sure that he saw the figure clearly.

---x:o:x---

"Good morning, Jack," a young woman greeted him when he reached the clinic. Her smooth, short hair swayed when she turned to see him. She smiled gently. "Morning, Elli," Jack replied. He regretted his decision for not taking bath earlier, a bit. He searched his bag and took out the herbs and gave them to her.

"Oh my, Doctor will surely be glad," she smiled and took it and held them carefully. "You went to the hills again? That must be a pretty tough thing to do, right? I hope you don't overworked yourself."

"Yeah, I went to the mine and tried to get some minerals, and, yes, I'm fine," Jack replied. The young woman just smiled, for she knew that Jack was a type that likes to busy himself. Jack chuckled awkwardly; he always gets nervous whenever he is around Elli. He himself didn't really know the reason, but he must admit that her mother-like attitude sometimes gotten over him.

Elli gasped, "Jack, you're bleeding!"

Jack blinked and followed her eyes. On the side of his elbow was a scratch; it wasn't a big one, but she was right about the bleedings. He raised it and took a good look, wondering where he could have got that. But Elli grasped his other hand, and got him inside the clinic. She asked Jack to wait for a moment and headed to a cabinet in the corner. She came back with a small, white box. "Elli, it's just a scratch," he said.

"Don't say that," she replied, and opened the box. She then looked at him with her calm brown eyes. "Even a small one could bring a serious disease, you know… It's important to take care of them before—"

"Okay, okay, I get it. The important thing is to close them, right?" Jack said. Elli glanced at him and chuckled, rubbing the wound with fleshy tissue. She pulled out a band aid and placed it on the wound. It had a four-leaved clover image printed on it.

"Sorry, that was the last that I have," Elli said, after seeing Jack looking at the band aid for a moment; she looked pretty reluctant. "If only I had another with more man-like pattern, I'd surely give it to you."

"No, this is fine, really," Jack shook his head quickly. He tried to find the words to comfort her. "It's, uh, cute."

Elli looked at him; she blinked a few times after hearing Jack's response. Meanwhile, Jack felt his face heating up. He secretly fooled himself for blurting that 'cute' thing out of blue. Seeing Jack's weird expression, Elli couldn't stand and giggled. Before Jack could say anything, someone peeked from the curtains just some meters from them.

"What's the matter, Elli?" It was Doctor. Jack blinked and his mouth made a small gap. Elli faced the black-haired man and smiled. "It's nothing, doctor."

He muttered "okay" before pulling his head back behind the curtains. Elli was about to go placed the box back to the cabinet when she noticed Jack was staring at the place where Dr. Trent had showed up before.

"He's sure is fast," Jack muttered, although it was obvious that he wasn't sure of his words. He noticed Elli's curious looks and smiled. "I met him when I was going back from the hill. He's a fast-walker, isn't he?"

"The hill?" Elli asked. Jack nodded. Elli paused before continued, "That's strange. He was here since the morning."

Jack twitched. "We had a patient this early morning, and after that he stayed here with me; so he didn't go to the hill like he usually does," Elli said again, this time she looked a bit worried. She examined Jack's face, which turned a bit pale and asked again, "Are you okay, Jack?"

Jack nodded, slowly, although his mind was puzzled. He tried to remember again the time when he had seen Dr. Trent on his way back. At that time, the man's figure had disappeared as if he wasn't there since the beginning. Jack forced a smile. "Yeah, sure. Maybe I was just imagining things."

"Anyway, I'm going to take a bath. My body's all itchy," Jack stated. But Elli's look hadn't changed, so he had to say something. "I bet I was too tired at that time, and started seeing things."

"You shouldn't force yourself," Elli said, and sighed. But then she smiled. "Try to get some rest after taking bath, okay?"

Jack nodded, and said goodbye to Elli before leaving the clinic. He headed back to his farm, toward the hot spring on Mother's Hill. It took him some minutes to get to the hill way. He stopped at the spot where he had seen Dr. Trent's figure for a while before finally continued his way to the hot spring. After done placing his clothes on the shelf and after he washed his body with cool water to cleanse the remaining of his sweats, he stepped inside the spring and simply sat there. The water was slightly hot rather than warm, like usual. He sprayed them to his face and tried to relax, but Elli's word rang on his head.

'_He was here since the morning.'_

Jack decided to keep that thought for later and closed his eyes.

---x:o:x---

"Oh, hey, Claire."

The blonde girl turned at him and greeted back, "Hi, Jack. What are you doing?"

Jack approached her who was standing in front of the clinic. Standing in front of her was Elli, and she waved politely to Jack. "I was having lunch at inn. And what are you doing here?"

Claire smiled. "Just walking around. Are you going back now?"

"Yeah, but I'll drop by at the library first. There's a book I wanted to borrow. Are you coming with me?"

"Okay, I planned to borrow some books too," she nodded, and turned to Elli who was listening all the time. "Thank you again, Elli."

Elli smiled. "Don't mind it. Feel free to drop by whenever you have time."

A small white band aid which stuck on Claire's hand brought Jack's attention. It was a band aid with the same pattern like the one on his right elbow. Jack turned and looked at Elli, "So you've found another one. You often forget things, huh, Elli?"

Jack smiled, but Elli just blinked. Claire looked at him with a what-do-you-mean looks. Jack curled his eyebrows, slightly embarrassed. "That band aid. You said that the one you gave me this morning was the last one, remember?"

Just to make them sure, he raised his elbow and let them see the band aid. Claire rounded her mouth when she noticed that his had the same pattern like hers, while Elli slightly turned her head sideways, seemingly puzzled. Jack pulled his arm again. Elli seemed lost in her thoughts, but Jack waited for her response.

"I…" Elli hesitated and paused. "I'm afraid I don't recall meeting you this morning, Jack."

Jack felt a strange feeling and he looked at her firmly. Then he was sure that something was definitely wrong. Something, somewhere. "Are you sure? Well, I do remember it clearly. We met when I was delivering Dr. Trent's herbs, remember?"

Elli silenced to think, but after a while, she shook her head slowly. _What's going on here?_ Jack thought. Meanwhile, Claire turned her head from Jack to Elli, and then back to Jack again. She thought for a while before finally releasing a slight smirk. "Oooh… I see," Claire grinned playfully. "You say that because you hold feelings for her, don't you?"

Hearing that, Elli's face suddenly turned red, while Jack seemed fluttered. "Th-that's not what I mean!" He stated quickly. He glanced at Elli and realized that the girl had place both of her hands on her blushing cheeks. "Elli, don't go red like that!"

"I, I'm sorry. I was just surprised," she muttered. She looked at the empty space near Jack's feet. "I never thought that you're actually…"

"That's why I said it's not like that!" Jack said again, slightly embarrassed after seeing Elli's reaction. Meanwhile, Claire laughed her heart out, happy seeing that her joke actually worked out. She thought that maybe she'd do it again, since it was funny to see their faces. Jack glanced sharply at her, and she stopped laughing directly at that moment.

Jack needed some minutes to ensure Elli and made Claire admit her joke. Jack himself must admit that it was very easy to tease Elli, and he guessed that Claire must have had thought of doing it again. Elli just laughed, though. But Jack could see a hint of pink hue remained on her cheeks, and that made him speechless for a moment.

So they headed to the library. After borrowing some books, they directly went back to the farm. On their way, Jack told her about Dr. Trent's figure back at the hill, and Claire's face turned into pale blue. She widened her eyes in terror and stepped hardly on Jack's foot, which made Jack startled. She said not to say anything creepy like that, and stepped to walk nearer to Jack. Jack assumed that she was afraid of supernatural things. He grinned secretly; now he had something to tease her with. But he agreed not to talk about it. He had lost his interest of finding the truth; he just wanted to sit and read the book until the time when he had to water his crops in the evening come.

---x:o:x---

To be continued.

_Next on Two Lives:_

_Another day in summer, both Jack and Claire can't easily go to sleep like usual. Claire starts telling him something she had kept as a secret even to Mayor Thomas, and Jack just silently listening to her. Reminiscence of their own past which they have been keeping all this time finally surrenders. A short chapter._

"_Two Lives Record 5: Opening Hearts". Read and review, please!_

---x:o:x---

Harvest N. G.

Elli gasped, "Jack, you're bleeding!"

Jack blinked and followed her eyes. On the side of his elbow was a scratch; it wasn't a big one, but she was right about the bleedings. He raised it and took a good look, wondering where he could have got that. But Elli grasped his other hand, and got him inside the clinic. She asked Jack to wait for a moment and headed to Dr. Trent's place and peeked inside. "Doctor, Jack's hand needs to be amputated."

"I'm going home, Elli!" Jack quickly turned and walked away, cold sweat rolling down on his face.

_End of N.G._


	5. Record 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon series, okay.

**Harvest Moon~Two Lives**

**Record 5: Opening Hearts**

The house was dark; the only thing that was bright was only the moon which showered its faint light through the window. Even though it was still summer, but the air felt cool, for it had been raining before. The sounds of crickets outside were slightly more piercing than the usual nights, and even frogs' callings could be heard clearly.

Jack looked at the spray of light just near his thin pillow in silent. He couldn't sleep, don't even bother getting sleepy. He had been like this over an hour and a half or so, just staring at nothingness. His muscles were all relaxed from all the whole day's tiredness, but his eyes weren't heavy at all. The truth, he was completely wide awake. He turned his body sideways, trying to get the comfy position and stayed like that for a while, but soon he knew that it was useless. He sighed very softly and looked downwards; he thought that by doing so would help him to sleep, but, again, he was wrong.

He heard a noise from Claire's bed. It seemed that she was having the same problem. Jack could hear her movements; she sounded pretty restless. The young man closed his eyes. Meanwhile, Claire was staring at the ceiling, with both hands crumpling her blanket. The corner of the room where her bed lies was darker than Jack's spot. She peeked from her blanket, checking whether the young man was still awake or not. But Jack had been facing the opposite ways, so she couldn't see his face. Being stayed awake and couldn't get back to sleep bothered her. She was bored, and on the top, started to feel hot. She kicked her blanket and mumbled in her mind. But she gave up and tried checking Jack anyway, so she called him. "Jack?" her voice was slightly hoarse. She coughed to clear it.

Some seconds had passed before finally he replied, "Hmm?"

Claire smiled to herself. At least she wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep. "You're not sleeping yet?"

"No," Jack's reply came even longer, and that made her slightly regretted her foolish question. He could be tired and all and maybe he were trying to get some sleep, but, maybe when Claire started talking it was a bit annoyance to him. Meanwhile, Jack was simply looking at his hands. He had already known that she was having difficulties in getting asleep, too. So he waited for the girl's response, but it took her long. So he asked, "Want to do something to spend the time?"

Claire blinked. What does that mean, doing something? But, she was feeling bored all right, and she didn't see anything wrong with doing the 'something' that Jack had mentioned before. "Uh, yeah, okay."

"I'll turn on the lamp, then," Jack moved his hands and was about to stand up before Claire said no. "Might help us whenever we feel sleepy, if you know what I meant," she said, and with that, Jack laid back on the thin stack of blanket on the floor, which had been his bed for months. He didn't move a muscle again, and that made Claire thought that he looked pretty much like a robot.

"Let's do something that needed no light, like," she paused and thought. "Like, talking."

Jack hummed. "Talking 'bout what?"

"I don't know," Claire's answer came so fast and he found it a bit funny. She continued, "We'll find something interesting to talk. I'll start, then. Hi, Jack."

"Hi, Claire…" Jack muttered. The girl continued, trying to sound livelier. "It's a bright night, isn't it? Here's darker than your place, though."

"Yeah…" Jack muttered again. Claire continued, this time using a news reporter's tone. "How does it feel to sleep on the floor like that, Mr. Jack? Isn't it cold?"

"No, not really…" Jack muttered again. "I've gotten used to it."

Claire coughed awkwardly and paused, "Sorry about that."

Jack chuckled.

---x:o:x---

"Jack, how old are you?" Claire asked, after a still minute. From Jack's appearance, he couldn't be more than 25. Instead, he looked even younger than that. Claire predicted he was in the age of 20 to 23. Couldn't be less.

"How old are _you_, then?" Jack asked her back. Many people said that it is forbidden to ask girls their age, but he just wanted to check whether it was right. Claire mumbled and said, "It's something that you shouldn't ask, you know."

"Okay, in that case, don't ask me either," Jack stated, without any harm meaning.

"Why can't I?" Claire asked again.

Jack turned and faced the ceiling. "And why can't I ask, too?"

Claire sighed. She had lost. Jack grinned when he realized that she had given up.

---x:o:x---

Claire had been thinking about Jack's question about her age. She had said it that it was forbidden to ask her age, but the truth was because she herself didn't know exactly how old she was. She had seen herself in the mirror every day and then, and after comparing her image to the other girl's image, she guessed that she was between Ann and Karen. So, Ann is 17, and Karen's about 24 or so.

Losing memories was the reason why she stayed in Mineral Town. Ever since she had been swept ashore, she couldn't remember about herself. Her family, her friends, her life…

Ellen, Elli's grandma, once said to her that she admired how Claire could be cheerful even when she didn't have anything to remember. _'You are a good girl, Claire_', was what she said. Granny Ellen smiled very gently and at that moment directly, Claire knew that she didn't have to be worried about anything more. Mourning about the past that she hadn't known wouldn't bring anything. Being herself was just enough to live her life.

"Sleeping already?" Jack asked. Claire shook, although she knew that he couldn't see it.

A weird thought came to her head, and she directly blurted it out. "Jack, what if all this time, I was lying to you? About my name, me losing my memories, and stuff…"

"Well, I wouldn't know unless you tell me," he answered. That answer alone brought a disappointment to Claire, as she had thought that he would say something longer and nicer than that. But deep inside, she knew that he was right. Still curious, she asked again, "But is that okay with you?"

"Probably," he stated, and closed his eyes. "Because the 'you' that I know is the 'you' now. I don't recognize the others."

Claire half-lidded her eyes, "The 'me' now…"

Jack's answer was very objective, but her heart felt warm, somehow. Meanwhile, Jack was deep in his thought. At times like that, heavy thoughts often came and sometimes it got him worked up. This time, it was about memory things that Claire had mentioned before. Jack tried to remember what did famous people said about memory, and compared it to his own opinion. He thought that memory is something that marks the existence. So, someone only exists if other people remember him or her. Jack knew a dog named Max, or Brownies, whatever; but not with people out of Mineral Town. So, to that people, a dog named Max never really there. Soon he realized that that thought was too narrow and somewhat relative; being forgotten or not recognized doesn't mean that something is not there. But his example was indeed true, at least for him.

He found himself trapped inside a paradox.

He sighed, and covered his eyes with his arm. Jack thought that he really needed that sleep; he wanted to get over of that day and start it again in the morning. At that time, Claire's voice awaken him from his gloom, later did he knew that it would only bring him into an even darker thought. "How was your life back when you're still in the city, Jack?"

Jack slightly opened his eyes, and felt cold. Without concerning Jack's reaction, the girl continued, "You told me before, that you didn't really like the situation there and moved here, but I'm just curious: what could make someone like you move into a deserted town like this."

Jack giggled bitterly. "'_Someone like me', 'deserted town'_? Who told you that?"

Claire twitched. She paused and bit her lips, she felt like she was a robber who had been caught. "Kai did. The one who opens a stand on the beach, know him?"

Jack hummed in reply. He knew him. Kai was from city, just like him, and Jack knew that Kai often goes to one town to another, from another city to another, trading some goods. No wonder that he could mention the big differences between the two places. Kai was right, Jack must admit it. Mineral Town had only a few communication tools, and those were only telephones in public service places and post office. It seemed that technology was mostly untouched there. Jack glanced at the window emptily, the reminiscence of the years that had been passed a long time ago flashed again in his mind. At that time, a dark grey cloud hindered the moon, and the room went darker; so as his mind.

"Claire," he said again. Claire was slightly surprised when she heard his voice; it was somewhat cold and different. "Have I ever told you that I became the heir of this place?"

Claire shut her mouth tightly, as she knew that she was to hear something that maybe she wouldn't hear for the second time. She prepared herself and listened carefully to Jack's each words. "The owner of this place… well, he wasn't my real grandfather. He was a stranger. I met him more than ten years ago here, when I was having a holiday with my family, you see."

"I was lost, and he found me," Jack paused and took a breath. He let it go, but not feeling better after awhile. "To summarize, we got along well. After I went back to the city, we started changing letters to each other, for years."

"Half year ago," Jack narrowed his eyes and looked again at the ceiling. The image of the old man crept into his mind and was like projected in front of him. He remembered his kind smile and his old man-like voice. All of those nice things; he knew he couldn't ever see it again in his entire life. "Mayor Thomas called and told me that the old man's will say I was the heir of the farm. He passed away. No wonder I didn't get his reply."

Jack chuckled, but he soon stopped. "And so, here I am."

Actually, there were some parts that he didn't tell her; those were about things between the times when Mayor Thomas had called him and when he had finally came to that town. Those were about his family and also his life. He could say that he had thrown it all away just to get to that town. His family had never really agreed with his will of going back to the town and inherits the old man's farm. Jack thought that, if he were a father, he wouldn't let his only son to leave his college only to become a farmer. Jack himself had found it very hard to choose between the two; his family or the old man. He remembered that teary face of her mother when he was about to depart from his parents' house, and also his father's weary smile. It tore him a lot just to remember it.

He had promised them that he would come back. The old man might have died alone in his solitude, but Jack wouldn't let his family ended up like that. He promised that he would take care of his parents. Maybe he would take them to the town and live together with him. Barely anything; anything that could bring smile to those faces. And that was for sure; it was an oath he had made in his heart.

"Jack, there is something that I had kept as a secret, from you and everyone," Claire suddenly said, out of blue. It seemed that after hearing Jack's story, she had the urge to tell him. It was a nice time and there was nothing that could bother her. "Actually, my memory didn't start when I fell into the ocean; it was some time before it."

"I was an illegal passenger. I didn't have any money, and I tried to smuggle myself into the cruise," she said. But strangely she told it all as if she was reading it from a book. Her tone was natural and light. "But then someone helped me and he paid for every of my expenses. He even allowed me to use his bed until we arrive at the coming port. He's a nice guy, really. And I bet that I was a bad person, considering my selfish act of pushing myself to smuggle like that…"

"I wonder what made me wanted to go into the cruise that bad," she muttered, as if she was talking to herself; and Jack thought that maybe she actually was. "Whatever it is, I hope that it's something important. But it's too bad, now I cannot fulfill whatever I desired at that time."

Claire stopped and was lost in her thought. Jack's voice awaken her, "It's not '_cannot_', but '_cannot yet_', Claire."

Claire giggled hearing Jack's short but encouraging sentence. "Yeah, right," she said. "Aww, I forgot that man's face. But somehow I know that he was kinda good looking, you see. Dang…"

Jack sighed. "And why are you telling me that? I'm sorry if I ever disappoint you, but I'm a normal guy."

"Come on!" Claire chuckled. A wide smile came to her face. "Don't you ever meet any girl that marks something in your heart? Your first love, maybe?"

Jack groaned, slightly irritated. But after thinking about it again, he felt that it was a bit interesting too. He looked at the window; the moon had shown itself up again. No wonder that he felt the room was slightly brighter. He remembered the little girl he had met back when he was spending his time in the same farm; that pony-tailed girl. "Hmm, I did meet a girl. We used to sing together on the hill just behind Mother's Hill."

"You? Singing?" Claire asked and directly burst out laughing. Jack quickly stated, "I was still a kid, okay?"

But Claire kept laughing and that made Jack's face redden in bashful. "Fine, whatever!" he stated again and covered his head with his thin blanket.

Claire knew that he meant nothing with that, and just continued laughing. Her voice filled the room; it was cheerful and warm, and apparently that affected Jack. He secretly smiled and said in a low tone. "Thanks, Claire."

Claire, seemed to hear something, stopped laughing and asked, "Huh? Did you say something?"

Jack sighed; there was no way that he'd say that thing again. It was not the right time; not anymore. So he mumbled, "No, I said I'm sleepy."

"Oh," Claire blinked, and yawned. "You're right... G'nite, Jack."

She pulled her blanket again and covered up to her neck, and directly went asleep. Jack, too, finally felt that he could have a rest, and slowly closed his eyes; he soon fell into a deep sleep.

---x:o:x---

To be continued.

_Next on Two Lives:_

"_Try and beat me, Jack," Kai smirked._

_Jack grinned. "You won't stand a chance."_

_Kai is easy going and flirtatious toward the girls, while Jack is well-mannered and helpful. The two of them are popular in town, although Kai is ahead of it than Jack. Without Jack's concerning, he becomes a rival to Kai. But not every rival ends up beating each other; they will surely have a time when they agree of something._

"_Two Lives Record 6: Fireworks in the Sky". Read and review, please!_

---x:o:x---

Harvest N.G.

"Jack, there is something that I had kept as a secret, from you and everyone," Claire suddenly said, out of blue. It seemed that after hearing Jack's story, she had the urge to tell him. "I'm a _Magi*_."

Jack sighed. "Yeah, right. And next time you'll tell me that Zack is actually Hulk. Just what kind of book do you borrow from the library, anyway?"

*) Note: _Magi _here tends to the anime _Fate/Stay Night_, of which _Magi _is the people who has the magical powers to call certain hero across the dimensions and fight along with them.

_End of N.G._


	6. Record 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon series, okay.

**Harvest Moon~Two Lives**

**Record 6: Fireworks in the Sky**

Jack heaved. He held the rock where Rick stood on and leaned his head. Some seconds after, Gray tapped the same rock fiercely and pulled his head out of the water to breathe more air into his lungs. And then, some more seconds, it was Dr. Trent who arrived. That ended the match round, making Kai the first winner. Rick announced this—although to Jack, he seemed not too satisfied with the result—and crowds' cheers grew stronger. Kai smiled wider than usual, while some other contestants looked at him with jealous. Jack himself looked at Kai blankly. Kai seemed to notice this and glanced back to him. Jack blinked and smiled. He raised a thumb up. "Nice, Kai!"

Kai kept glancing at him; this time he seemed cold. Seemingly ignoring Jack, he then swam back to the beach.

Jack followed him with his eyes. Gray moved closer to him and muttered, "Don't mind him. He's always like that."

He then sighed; seeing from Jack's facial expressions, he assumed that the young farmer really had no idea about it. It was a bit bitter for him to speak the later sentence; he knew that it was not a good habit to say something about it. He looked at Jack; felt that at least he should said something. "It's summer, Jack. You must've known the issues," He turned him back. "If you haven't, well, you will."

---x:o:x---

A sunny afternoon, some weeks after Swimming Festival. Jack opened his mailbox only to find a letter of notification from Mayor Thomas about the coming festival. He read it carefully, memorizing the dates and details. After he finished, he folded it again and walked toward his small, red roofed house. After putting the letter inside his drawer neatly, he directly headed to his farm again. From his window he could see someone was talking to Claire. He leaned closer. It was Kai. Jack had never really talked with him since they rarely met. True, that the young farmer sometimes went to the bar at inn, just to kill some time and to chat with townspeople, but Kai had always been in his rented room. Jack had heard stories about him, but hearing them only lost him in his thought.

He walked outside, not so long after, and greeted him. Claire turned to him and waved. Jack noticed something in Kai's hands. Some corns. Probably ones from his crops. Just some few steps away from them, his eyes caught a glimpse of Kai's face; it was blank, as if he had seen a UFO or something. Jack tilted his head a little, and was about to greet again when Claire had first.

"Kai needs some corns," she said, hesitated. "I gave some to him… Is that okay?"

Jack saw her anxiety and nodded in reply. "Sure. I don't see why not," he smiled, and looked at Kai again. That look on his face had gone. Jack thought that maybe it was only his imagination. "We rarely meet, huh, Kai? How have you been?"

"I'm fine, thank you," he gave his usual smile, and raised the corns in his hands. "And thanks for these, Jack."

"No problem," Jack smiled wider. "Wanna drop by and drink our milk? It tastes better when served cold, though."

Claire moved her feet. "Oh, I'll take it for you."

"Gee, no! No, thanks," Kai stated quickly, and Claire stopped. He had some spaces between his words. "You're being very nice, really. I appreciate that, but I don't want to be more troublesome than this to you guys."

Claire blinked a few times, and then stepped back to her position. "Don't say that. It's no bother at all," she said. But, Kai smiled to her. His smile was somewhat different; but it gave a feeling as if he was smiling to his lover or something. Jack was stunned. "I'll be going back now," Kai replied. "Come and visit me sometime."

And with that, he walked out the farm.

Kai's smile still lingered in Jack's mind. He absentmindedly turned to Claire and blurted out, "You're dating him?"

Claire's jaw dropped as she flustered. "Wha—? No, I'm not! What makes you think like that?"

"Uh… Well, I don't know. It's sorta looked like that," Jack giggled anxiously. Claire let out a slight "jeez…" and seemed a bit surprised. Jack rubbed his cheek although it wasn't itchy, and thought that maybe he wasn't guessing it right anyway. He reminded himself not to say anything more about things like that to Claire; he was afraid that she would think that he didn't allow him to get closer to guys in town, or maybe out of town, if there was any.

Claire's a girl, anyway. And she seemed still in her teen-to-adult age. _Right, I shouldn't be too much bothering her with difficult things such as 'love' or something_, Jack thought. He nodded to himself excitedly.

"Uh-huh. Oookayy…" Claire just tilted her head up a bit, seemingly curious about Jack, who looked like he had reached a conclusion of which she didn't know. She had gradually calmed down.

"Kai's a good swimmer, isn't he?" Jack said, finally, blurting out the new topic. He remembered back when Mineral Town held the Swimming Festival, Kai was far ahead of him. Jack must admit that he was, and still, amazed of how the man could swam smoothly. Kai swam like a dolphin; he moved very fast.

"It's been a very long time since the last time I swim," Jack muttered, while Claire giggled. Jack could bet that she was remembering when Jack had the fourth place from six in that final round. Jack himself knew that since the beginning, he was not that good with swimming. Well, true that when he was still in high school, he could swim way faster than what he did in the recent Swimming Festival. So maybe the problem was because he lacked exercise those past years.

At least, he wasn't the last person to reach the goal mark.

---x:o:x---

It was a usual evening. The road was pretty dark although the street lamps had been turned on. Claire yawned and rubbed her eyes slowly. Walking beside her was Jack; and he sighed seeing his companion. "Told you, you should just wait at home," he said, but the girl shook slightly. It was very obvious that she was sleepy after all. "Can't sleep," she muttered.

_Liar_, Jack thought. She was probably just scared being left alone in the house. Maybe it was because they watched horror movie on their television the last day. "Get some sleep when we got home, okay? Tomorrow's the festival, after all." He stroked her hair. Claire opened her eyes wide and stopped her feet. She held the top of her head, the place where Jack had stroked before, and her mouth was hung open. She didn't wait until Jack turned to see her. "Wha-What did you just do?"

Jack stopped, and looked at her with a confused look. He heard her clearly, although he wasn't sure her meaning by saying that. "Huh? I just stroked your hair… Why?"

Claire was sure that her face somewhat felt hot all of the sudden; she didn't know why. She felt somewhat embarrassed but couldn't stop smiling—although the truth was that she managed to hold her lips from making a hint of smile. "I-I don't know," she replied, blinking absent-mindedly a few times. "I just feel… kind of… weird."

"Whoa," Jack raised his eyebrows in surprise. "You don't like being stroked? I don't know about that. Sorry! I won't do it again, then."

"Umm, no, that's okay," she replied. "It was actually… felt nice."

Jack stepped closer to her and stroked her hair again, this time harder. "I'll do it again, since you don't mind," Jack teased and used both of his hands. Claire resisted, she tried to keep Jack's hands away but it was a useless effort. Jack pulled away and stopped to see his 'masterpiece'. It was horrible. The previously straight and smooth-looking blonde hair of her was then shaped like a bunch of untidy strings and it looked tousled, a lot.

"Thank you," she said, in monotone. "If anyone sees me like this, I promise I'll kick you." Jack placed both hands on his mouth, keeping the urge of laughter to come out, for he knew that there might be some people who had already asleep in that hour. On the other side, Claire tried to get her hair back to normal. She used her fingers to comb it, and it was a bit hard. She mumbled in her mind; seemed that Jack didn't pull back at all. She just hoped that no one would see her in that shape.

"Good evening, Jack, Claire," said a voice. Claire froze.

Jack turned and saw a tall and skinny figure ahead of them, walking on the same road. When the person came into the spot of lamplight, his face could be seen clearly. A slightly spiky but messy-looking haircut, a simple white shirt and black trousers, and a gloomy face. It was no other but Kano the photographer. Jack greeted him. Hans stopped just about one meter from him and smiled back. He looked tired, but Jack didn't concern much about it, actually. He was always looked tired. Hans' black eyes caught Claire's figure, which was simply standing there behind Jack, frozen; and he widened his eyes in surprise.

At that moment, Claire moved her foot and kicked Jack from behind, making him lose his balance and almost fell. Hans blinked in confuse and asked, finally. "Er… What happened?"

"Nothing," Claire smiled as if nothing had happened. Her hair was a bit better. "I'm just fulfilling my promise, that's all."

---x:o:x---

The hallway was brightened by an orange lamp on the corner of the hall, and some others above his head. Sounds of music and people chattering from the basement could be heard, although it wasn't so much clear since he was on the second floor. He turned; checking whether there was anyone else beside himself, but there was none. He stared back at the door in front of him. Room 203. He raised his hand and knocked it three times.

"Who is it?" said a voice inside the room.

"It's me, Jack," he replied. He waited and some seconds after, he heard the door was being unlocked. But there was no sign it was going to be opened or some sort. He just waited. The voice from inside said again, "Come in."

Jack turned the knob and opened the wooden door. The room was a bit small. A single bed was placed on the left corner of the room. The sheet was a bit messy, and there was someone sitting there. That someone closed and placed the textbook he had been reading beside him and looked at his guest. He smiled and greeted him. "Whassup, Jack?"

Jack stepped inside and closed the door. "Mayor Thomas asked me to ask you to join the festival tomorrow," Jack explained. "What do you say, Kai?"

Kai's smile was still there, "Oh, I will. Sure."

"Good. I'll tell him later, then," Jack tilted his head up a bit and smiled. Kai nodded. And then there was a silence. Jack prepared the next words in his mind, while Kai was still looking at him like a stray cat. The young farmer cleared his throat and opened his mouth, "Actually that's no—"

"Say, Jack," Kai cut, still staring at Jack with his dark blue eyes. "Do you get along well with Mayor?"

Kai's eyes were like those of wild cats': sharp, deep, and dangerous, keeping track of its prey. Jack felt the same weird feeling like what he had felt before, in Swimming Festival. He closed his mouth and remained silent before finally answering, "Well… Mayor's a very sociable person, so I guess almost everyone in the village get along with him well."

Kai snorted, and finally averting his eyes to his textbook. He shook his head a little, and muttered something unclear to Jack. It gave Jack a weird and uneasy feeling, but he stood still on where he was and continued his sentence, only this time he was sure. "I came here to ask you something. Not something big, though," he said, and stared at Kai with a straight look. "Is it true that you tell everyone that we're rivals?"

It was something that Hans had said before, when they met on their way to Doug's place. Kai smiled and leaned on the wall just behind him. "It is," he replied calmly. "And?"

"Why, I don't see the reason why we would," Jack said again. It was true. As far as he remembered, he did and said nothing about being Kai's rival. He even had never thought about it, not at all.

"There _is,_ Jack," Kai replied. He smiled, but this time it looked somehow bitter to Jack's eyes. The young farmer waited for his later sentence, but Kai didn't say anything more. The thought that Kai was only joking around with the 'rivals' thing slowly fades. There was something that Kai kept from him, he knew. He processed everything in his mind, and finally closed his eyes for some seconds. Afterwards, he looked at him again.

"I see," Jack said, smiling. "Claire must be sleepy now, so I should go back. Don't forget about the festival!"

And with that, he turned and walked outside of the room, and closed the door behind him. The truth was, Jack kind of wanted to know how Kai respond at this, but he decided to keep the interesting part for later. He had something else in his mind. It was not anything like taking Kai as his rival too, nor was it anything like what people had said about the tanned guy. Messing with people just wasn't his style at all. Jack walked down the stairs and noticed some guests looked at him full of questions. He ignored them all and took Claire's hand and brought her back home. Claire kept staring at him anxiously, but she did not say anything.

---x:o:x---

The next day, a sunny early morning in Mineral Town. Every villager had gathered, mostly were talking to members of their own groups. Jack himself was simply listening to Manna and Claire while they were chatting. Sometimes Duke would talk to him, but not very often. Seemed to Jack that the old man was being nervous after all.

Jack would compete in Tomato Festival as well as most of the villagers would. His team consisted of himself, Claire, and Manna. Duke was not feeling well so Manna restricted him from playing. Duke's face was as red as tomato when he arrived with his wife; but then it was getting better. He was then feeling anxious of Manna going on 'the war' by herself.

"Are you sure about this? I can still compete, you know. And winning won't be that hard if I do," he begged Manna once more. But Manna chuckled, covering her mouth with one of her hands. "Don't worry, dear," she said. "Even without you, I can still win this match. I have these youngsters, see. O ho ho ho."

That second afterwards, Duke kept on wrinkling his face. Jack didn't know what to do with that one, so he decided to just let it be.

"Hey, Jack."

Kai waved and walked toward the young farmer. He noticed Claire and Manna, and smiled. "Playing with girls, I see. So I wasn't the one who likes being around those beautiful beings."

Claire just stared without any further response, while Manna was giggling in embarrassment. Meanwhile, Jack released the same smile like Kai's, and answered, "Not really. They were the ones who chose me, anyway. And who chose you_, _Kai?"

Kai's smile transformed into that of a sly and a bit scary one, but he turned around and walked back to where Popuri and Rick were. He tucked his hands into his pockets and after some steps, Jack could hear his low voice. "Let's just see, Jack."

---x:o:x---

The moment before the red tomato crushed on her face, Claire quickly closed her eyes and mouth. The red liquid splattered out and wet her chin to forehead. She could smell the sweet and sour of the fruit. Claire cleansed the remaining of the tomato with her fingers and opened her eyes slowly. Kai was laughing. Meanwhile, Jack reached for another tomato and said, "Again, Claire? It's our final round!"

"Go, Jack! Fight hard!" Manna exclaimed excitedly. Her face was wet and there was some small flesh of the fruit on her face, but she didn't seem to care about it. Claire turned to see Jack; he threw a tomato and it directly hit Rick's face.

"Sorry!" Jack said; a big smile went over his face. Claire and Manna cheered almost simultaneously to this. Claire looked to the group in front of them and noticed that the only one left was Kai. Popuri was nowhere to be seen and Rick was busy cleaning his glasses. Claire remembered of the rumor about Jack and Kai being rivals; and although it didn't make sense to her, she started to believe that it was true after all.

Jack took another tomato and held it with one hand. He waited for Kai. And so did Kai.

"It's just you and me," said Kai. He let out a little breath. Jack just smiled and played the tomato.

Kai took one of the red fruits and opened his legs a little. Jack positioned himself. Somehow Claire felt the tension from those two. She couldn't comment anything and just simply stood there, watching. She clutched on her hair which hung loosely near her ears nervously.

"Try and beat me, Jack," Kai said, smirking. His eyes were focused on the blue farmer.

Jack grinned, "You won't stand a chance."

They pulled their hands, targeting each other. Claire held her breath. Some silent seconds ticked and suddenly, like an ambush, they shouted and threw their bullets with an excessive speed.

And then there went a sound of the fruit crushing on the stone floor.

For a moment, no one responded. Not even the two guys. Claire herself couldn't believe her eyes. She looked at Jack, eyes widened with surprise. The young farmer, his face covered with red flesh of the tomato, opened his mouth a bit, and muttered, "Dang… he got me."

As if being triggered, everyone cheered with excitement, some with disappointment. And that ended the festival of the year, leaving Jack's team as a runner up and Kai's team as the winner. Claire felt as if she could just fall down seeing how it turned out. She walked to where Jack was, and was about to get angry to him, but seeing Jack's face she couldn't help but to laugh.

"Did you come here just to laugh at me?" Jack said, letting a small sigh. Claire kept on laughing; small buds of tear sparkled weakly on the edge of her eyes. She held her stomach, and was slightly afraid of not being able to stop laughing. There were some things that she wanted to tell him, but she just couldn't say it out. Seeing how Claire acted, Jack snorted and laughed too.

"Really, for being so confident," Claire managed to say that between her laugh. "Gosh, you're so funny!"

And she laughed again. Manna and Duke walked to them. Manna put her hand on her cheek and smiled. "Too bad we can't win, but that was very exciting! Oh, I love to see how you and Kai stare at each other just now. It was just like those in the movies!" she giggled, so did Claire. And then Manna continued, "You see, I've seen this movie once, the main character was…"

She was busy telling the whole story to Claire, while Duke the husband punched Jack's arm playfully; he was laughing too. "Ha ha! Good one, boy! Well, we can try it again next year. And I'll make sure I won't get sick again, so maybe we'll have the chance to face each other."

Jack grinned and said "sure" with joy. Claire, who had no choice but to listen to Manna patiently, caught Kai's figure. The young man was standing still on his place, just behind the barrel, and seemingly speechless of something. He kept on staring at Jack and Duke. Claire had never seen him like that, but there was something about Kai's looks that bugged her.

Kai noticed that Claire was looking at him, and he stopped staring at Jack. He looked at Claire awkwardly. Claire smiled to him, and he smiled too. After that, he directly went to Mayor's place to get his winning announced.

At that moment, Manna had done telling her the story. Claire just nodded and giggled awkwardly for she didn't really listen to the woman. Ann came and congratulated Manna and Duke, and Claire took the chance to speak with Jack. She stepped closer to him and said in a soft voice, being careful so that no one could hear them.

"Are you and Kai… really rivals?" she asked, reluctantly.

"What do you think?" he asked her back.

"Well," Claire looked at other direction and bit her lower lip before continuing, "I think you _intentionally _intimidated him just before the festival started, so I thought that you might be opposing him or something, but, I still am not sure of whether it is true or not. I don't see a reason."

"Good one," Jack answered. He looked at Mayor Thomas who stood on the other side of the field, who were currently asking everyone to gather around. He then looked back at Claire and saw that she really needed the answer. So he scratched the back of his neck and explained, "I can't say that I agree of being his rival. But I think I kind of know why he's upset with me."

Claire raised his eyebrows in curiosity. She shook her head a bit, and asked again, "So? Why did you do that? I mean, you're acting like you agreed of—"

"Not at all," Jack cut; he looked at the distance and made a thin smile. "I only decided to play along."

"'Play along'?" Claire repeated. Jack looked at her and chuckled.

"You'll see," he said. "Come on, we have to be there before Mayor gets mad."

Jack walked to the crowd, and Claire had no choice but to follow him quietly.

---x:o:x---

Days passed, weeks went by, and Claire was left in her curiosity. Some townsfolk would ask her about the problem between the two young men, but the answer would be just a simple shook. Jack didn't tell her. And even if he did, she would not tell it to everyone like a newspaper or something. The fact that Jack kept the reason as a secret made her disappointed even if only a little bit; but she knew that when he said that, it meant that he had another plan in his head. And Claire would have to trust him.

Claire sighed, and looked at the clear night sky upon her.

"Hi, Claire," said a voice. Claire smiled at her. "Karen! I thought that you aren't coming today."

The beach was quite dark, but Claire still could see Karen smiled bitterly. "Yeah, Rick was such a slowpoke. And I thought that girls took longer than guys," she giggled. "Watching it with Jack?"

Claire blinked, but strangely felt somehow embarrassed of Karen's question. "I'm, uh, no! No, of course not! I, uh, I've made an appointment with someone else. I don't know about Jack, though. Ha ha ha…"

"'Someone else'?"

Claire nodded, and pointed with her gaze to someone who was standing quite far behind Karen. Karen followed her gaze and saw Louis the bee observer. Karen noticed that the old man wore clothes cleaner than his usual clothes, and he was talking to Mayor Thomas about something. Karen looked back at Claire, and Claire explained.

"Uncle Louis rarely goes out," she said. Sea breeze made her hair swayed like leaves on the trees. "And he said that he had always wanted to watch it sometime, but he'd always fell asleep and ended up missing the festival. So I asked him to join me so he could meet with the villagers and watch the fireworks."

"That's so sweet of you," Karen smiled again, and that made Claire slightly embarrassed. "There's still some time before the festival starts. Come, let's buy some snacks. I'll treat you, of course."

Without even care to wait for Claire's answer, Karen took the girl's hand and walked her to a certain stand.

---x:o:x---

Kai sat quietly. The world below him was almost black; it was even darker than the sky beyond him. He watched to the distance, finding no difference between that night and the others. Cold wind blew on him, but he didn't care.

_Just how long have I been here?_

He closed his eyes, but past thoughts haunted him again. He opened them again only to feel even upset and bored. He was bored enough; fed up with _those_ thoughts.

No, that wasn't true.

He himself wasn't so sure of what he felt then. Blends of so many feelings inside of him grunted and moaned. He just wanted to end it all at any one instance, but how?

"Kai?"

He blinked in surprise. He recognized exactly that voice. That voice was the source of all of his problems. He turned to see the figure clearly. "Well… Hello, Jack," he greeted. His voice sounded very low and cold.

_Who said that just now? Was that me?_

That figure stepped to him, holding a flashlight in his hand, smiling lightly as usual. "Wow. Expected that you'd be here. Can I join?"

_What is this? I feel so funny…_

Kai grinned; only he didn't know the reason why. His body felt so light and his eyes were focused on the person in front of him. There was this weird urge inside him. And he was tired to hold it up; he had been holding it inside all this time. So he let it go.

He heard a scream he thought as his. The second after, he was already on that person's body. One of his hands was pulled to the air, while the other held the person's chest so that person would not get away.

The flashlight fell down with a thud and shined them. The face could be seen clearly.

"Are you going to hit me?" It was Jack. He looked straight at Kai, and said, "It's okay. Do whatever you want with me."

Kai heard a scream again and felt that his body was moving rapidly, as if all of his nerves and muscles were awakened and accelerating. He released a punch to that person. And then another. And then again, again, again, again…

_What's happening with me? I have to stop…_

He was panting and he could feel sweats rolling on his face, but his body would not rest. He kept on punching Jack, then using his two hands. And that young farmer really didn't resist at all. Kai yelled again.

"Don't screw up with me! Do you even realized what you have done?" he shouted. "YOU RUINED MY LIFE EVEN MORE!"

His hands hurt. But he needed to spat out that feeling more. It was like a poison inside of him.

"What's with that smile of yours? Spreading them as if you're a saint; you planned to make everyone compare me with you, didn't you? Huh?"

_Why am I telling this to him? What is my reason? Why do I—_

His energy started to ran down. His movements slowed. "Everyone…! Everyone is…! I'm tired already!"

'_Stop bothering us already!'_

'_Geez, just what kind of man are you? You should learn from Jack; he's totally different with you.'_

'_Of course I know him. He's the gentlest man in the village, I think. He helped my grandpa to fix his barn.'_

'_I like him; even though he was all tired from mining, he still lent me a hand finding my mother's memento.'_

'_Rivals? Get real! A person like you could never match him!'_

'_Ha-hah! Here goes our so-called lady-killer! I bet he's going to flirt my grandma after this one! Ha ha ha!'_

'_I don't like you, Kai.'_

He remembered clearly what he had been hearing from various people. Men of the village; then grew to townsfolk… All of them hated him, he knew. And they had hated him even more ever since this summer.

Just where did he go wrong? What made them rejected him so much?

He had been trying to improve his attitude from one summer to another every year; he tried his best to be accepted and liked by people. He really did; but all of his efforts seemed to be in vain when 'he' came. Everyone seemed to look at him with disgust and despise, ever since this summer. Everyone would mention 'his' name whenever he was around, just to make him _know_ how different he was with 'him', ever since this summer. Everyone would not choose to support him, but 'him' instead, ever since this summer. And bad talks about him grew more and more… all of that, ever since this summer.

"It's all your fault! You…" He punched him again, and gritted his teeth of despair and hatred. "WHY DID YOU HAVE TO COME HERE?"

He had said it all. Everything which had bugged his mind. He stopped and looked at the person. Eyes widened in shock; he was like awakened from a dream. Suddenly he felt fear of what he had done to the farmer. The young man didn't move; blood was spilling from the side of his lips and from his nose. His cheeks were all swollen and blue; on some part were some crimson scratches.

That person opened his eyes weakly, looking straight at Kai; the same look he had before. And with his low voice, he said slowly and faintly, almost whispering, "…Finished already?"

Hearing that one sentence, Kai's body felt as if it had lost all of its energy. His hands hung loosely. His mind was blank. He had spat it all out; the thoughts. And then that he had, he felt empty rather than relieved. "I… I…" He muttered unclearly. Kai saw his hands which were stained with lines of Jack's blood and gasped. _What have I done?_

"If,"

Kai's ears twitched and he moved his head slowly to see the young farmer clearly. Jack breathed heavily.

"If you are considered bad by people, then," he paused and collected some more energy. And through all of his wounds, he smiled weakly, "then I will be the one who'd make you considered good."

_What…?_

At that time, a cracking sound was heard and the fireworks exploded behind Kai's figure, spraying golden lights which shined them faintly. Two others followed some milliseconds after.

"I… had no intention to make you suffer," he said again. Kai listened and was unable to speak a word. Jack continued, "I can't say that I know what you feel, but this is a promise; somehow… Somehow I will change their view… so that you know, that you're not alone."

It was like a breezing wind to Kai. He felt as if he was a sponge; he absorbed Jack's words deep into his mind and kept that safe. Explodes of fireworks trembled his heart a bit, but he felt something different. He felt as if he had found 'something' that he had been looking for these times.

"Can you, uh…?" Jack moved his body a bit, and that made Kai realized that he was sitting on him all this time.

"Oh! Sorry!" He quickly got down from Jack and helped him to sit. Jack coughed a few times and huffed.

"Well, now. Since it has gotten into this…" Jack stretched his arms and prepared.

Kai blinked. "Huh?"

Jack's punch landed on Kai's left cheek like a shot, and it made the tanned guy almost flung away. He fell down to the slippery rocks beneath him. Rubbing his almost swollen and painful cheek, he looked back at Jack and yelled. "That hurts! What was that for?"

"I think it's obvious. You completely _bullied _me there. Now, Kai, it was only a punch. Don't you want to get another one? Or maybe another two?" Jack walked to him, with fists ready. But then he stopped and grinned, "Just kidding."

Kai was silenced for a moment there, and after he realized, he snorted. "You're such an annoying fellow."

And then he laughed. He laughed so hard. Jack firstly giggled, but then he laughed too.

Hundreds lines of lights poured down from the explosions like showers of stars. Kai admitted in his mind that it was the most beautiful fireworks he had ever seen, and smiled. His heart was filled with warmth; it made him feel as if someone was watching over him. He turned at Jack, and apparently Jack was looking at him too. Jack was smiling.

Kai shook his head and smiled to him. "Thanks."

Jack grinned.

About 2 hours later, Kai decided to bring Jack back to his farm. They had tried to 'fix' Jack's face before, but it didn't give any significances. Jack wet his red scarf with cold water from a lake near the summit and put it around his cheeks along the way. It was quite hard for Jack to see clearly, so Kai had to match Jack's pace and held the flashlight. None of them made conversations; Kai knew that the flesh inside Jack's mouth had been wrecked from his punches, so he figured that it would be simply painful just to talk. So he kept silent and guided the young farmer back.

Didn't even have the chance to speak a word, a fast slap got Kai right on the cheek where Jack had hit before; and it happened just some seconds after they arrived at Jack's humble residence. It was Claire. But Kai didn't resist nor upset. He merely looked down while girl was trembling, still trying to catch her breath. It seemed to him that she was furious enough and it was all made sense to Kai. Jack was standing still beside Kai, with swollen cheeks and wet scarf on his face.

"I hate you," she said, with a low voice. Her eyes were watery, and she tried to prevent it flowing out by gritting her teeth.

Kai didn't budge. _I deserved this anyway_, he thought. "Claire, stop," Jack said, stepping forward to calm the girl, but he was too late.

"Why did you have to do this?" Claire asked with a tone Jack had never heard. It delivered him a slight shiver on his spine, and that made him stopped right there. But Jack braced himself and continued, "Claire, let me explain—"

"Why didn't you tell us? Me and Jack were worried about you!" Claire shouted, finally; and the tears she tried to keep raced out on her face. She sobbed. "I don't get it… Why can't you trust us?"

Kai raised his face in surprise, and so did Jack. They had expected that she'd be angry for other reason, but not this one. It was the very first time for Jack to know that Claire actually had been worrying about Kai. He supposed that she must have had heard the news and stories about Kai from people of Mineral Town and had tried to figured something to get Kai out of that rumors. So she had been trying hard by herself. Jack felt guilty for not telling her his plan before; he didn't expect that it would turn out stressing her out like this.

"I'm sorry for not telling you and Jack," Kai said, finally. He grinned. "And thanks for crying for me."

Jack smiled to Claire, and Claire's sobs weakened.

---x:o:x---

Another morning in summer, still in Mineral Town, was a clear day like usual. A barber was cleaning his window when he saw a blonde girl, a blue and purple young men walking together on a street not so far from him. He placed the cloth he used for cleaning to his shoulder and stepped to greet them. He remembered the rumors spread in the village and saw Kai with an annoyed look.

"And I thought that you said to everyone things about you and Jack becoming rivals," the barber said. "You should know this now: you and he are no longer comparable. And even if you won from him on something, no one would ever cheer for that, boy."

Kai just stared at him coldly.

"Don't say that, uncle. There's no way that we're rivals!"

That cheerful voice broke Kai's tense. He looked at Jack, who stood just beside him, slightly amazed and surprised at a same time.

"Living beings are different and unique, so no one could compare one to each other," he said, smiling. "and after all…"

"Wah!" Kai was surprised as Jack put an arm on his neck. "Hey! What are you—"

Jack didn't seem to concern much; he continued. "After all, we're best friends! Right, Kai?"

That barber man was surprised to Jack's response, and so did Kai. But Kai managed to reply. "Y-yeah, sure," he said, putting Jack's arm off him. "But you forgot one thing, Jack."

The tanned guy stepped closer to Claire and pulled her to his chest, smirking. "We're still rivals in getting Claire. I won't hold on to this."

Claire was as red as tomato and struggled, muttering things such as 'what are you doing', 'let go', 'heeeelp'; but Kai was too strong for her. Meanwhile, Jack opened his mouth in surprise.

Surprisingly, he let go a breath. "Well, I had no intention to have Claire as my girlfriend, so I guess you can have her…"

"WHAT?" Both Claire and Kai shouted simultaneously in shock.

"Wait, why am I surprised? It's not like I'm thinking of becoming his girlfriend or something like that, so there's nothing to be surprised for. I mean, well, I…" Claire muttered this unconsciously in soft voice— backed them and pulling her hair which hung near her ears— and (fortunately) Jack couldn't hear her.

"You're no cool, man," Kai tapped on Jack's shoulder and sighed.

"Huh? What?" Jack wrinkled his eyebrows in confuse.

The barber man sighed too, and looked at them, only this time softer. "You guys are such a strange group," he rubbed his cheek, puzzled, and relaxed his shoulders, "well, I should prepare the shop now. You all should not forget to work too. No work, no food!"

"Yes, sir," said Kai and Jack playfully.

When that man went back to his shop, Jack smiled to Kai, as if he was telling him that everything was going to be okay. Kai knew what he meant, and smiled in response.

A dry wind blew on them, as if reminding them that the season would change soon. And it was such a shame, at least for Kai, that it would really end soon. He would have to leave that little town just some weeks after, but he knew that he wouldn't leave as the 'himself the previous years'; he knew something new, and he felt that he would change into someone better.

This summer sure was a different one for him.

This summer, he had found kindness and opened hearts. And he knew that he had people he wants to meet the next time he came to this town. Until the next time…

---x:o:x---

To be continued.

_Next on Two Lives:_

"_Hello, Claire. Borrowing a book?" Mary smiled gently._

_Having nothing to do after work at the farm, she would rather spend her time visiting some people and reading. But when most of the books have been read by her, she would have to do something else._

"_Two Lives Record 7: Being a Villager". Read and review, please!_

---x:o:x---_  
_

Harvest N.G.

"Are you going to hit me?" It was Jack. He looked straight at Kai, and said, "It's okay. Do whatever you want with me."

Kai heard a scream again and felt that his body was moving rapidly. He released a punch to that person. That calm look on Jack's face vanished and his eyes were wet of tears. He held his cheek where Kai punched him at, and cried. "I can't believe you _really _hit me! Mommy, save me…..!"

Kai was speechless and wasn't able to speak or do anything.

_End of N.G._


	7. Record 7

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon series, okay.

**Harvest Moon~Two Lives**

**Record 7: Being A Villager**

Claire and Jack woke up together as the alarm rang every morning. They got dressed in silent, and stepped out of the house. It was autumn already, but the morning air was still breezing. Everything seemed to be wrapped in a dark blue blanket of the sky, as the sun hadn't shown up yet. Jack would bring his flashlight along with him, and Claire would follow just behind. First, they would go to check their horse, Claes. Arriving there, Jack would prepare its grass and water, while Claire brushed and talked to it.

Done with the horse, they moved to the barn, and turned off the flashlight after switching the lamps inside on. They separated and did their jobs. Usually they would take some of the milk for themselves, Brownies, and Gotz, who started to come every day to enlarge the main house. Yes, that was right. Claire had finally managed to convince Jack to fix and enlarge his humble house. It took her almost half an hour to convince him, before he finally agreed (although it seemed that he wasn't so sure about it). And that had relieved her. All this time, the young man had slept on the floor; to be precise, on a thin stack of blanket which simply been spread out on the floor. Enlarging the house means they would have another bed; and Jack wouldn't have to sleep on the floor again. That's one good thing, at least for Claire.

The two would collect the eggs inside the chicken house and put the chicken feed in darkness and did everything they needed to do without making much noise, so the chickens wouldn't wake up earlier than they should had been.

"Have any plan for today?" asked Jack, when they had finished with the chickens and was about to go back to the house for breakfast.

"Library," Claire answered. "Again," she added. Going to library was one of her routine activities after works at the farm. Of course, besides of strolling the town and visiting some villagers. She just hoped that they will have new releases so she could have something to read before she sleeps.

Jack figured that Claire was bored after all, and he reminded of something that might fill her time. "Hey, I found out that wild grapes grow on the hill just after Mother's Hill. Do you know that?"

Claire knew what goes on Jack's mind: he was definitely trying to cheer her up. She could tell it easily from his sentence and tone. So she smiled and decided not to make the young farmer worry more about her. "Yes, I know it from Mr. Basil's book. That reminds me; maybe I can go there this afternoon to collect some."

And the conversation started to flow gradually, like most days.

---x:o:x---

"Hello, Claire. Borrowing a book?" said a girl who stood behind the desk not so far from where Claire was. Her glasses glowed faintly and she was smiling softly to the girl. She is the daughter of Basil and Anna, the owner of the library. Her name is Mary.

"I don't think so, Mary," Claire replied carefully. Mary looked at her full of questions, and asked back, "Why, are you running out of interesting books?"

Claire thought for a while, and nodded slowly. Mary chuckled. "In that case, I suggest you to try reading something you rarely read," she told her this, and gazed at a certain shelf. "Let's see… Ever interested in law?"

_Law_. That one word somehow gave her a heavy burden on her back. Not that she disliked the topic, but she was supposed to read that before she sleeps and figured that it would only stress her mind more. She needed something a little bit light and refreshing, and 'law' surely wasn't included. But she tried to be polite to Mary; the black haired girl had tried to give Claire a solution and it would be bad for her to reject it. "Yes, quite a bit, but not this time," Claire said, moving her feet to the stairs. "I'll try to find books I rarely read. Thanks, Mary!"

Mary waved as Claire walked to the stairs which connect the first and the second floor. Her steps weren't much heard since the library had this large carpet covering most parts of the floor. Claire knew exactly which shelf she seldom visited, and headed there. But she stopped as she noticed a familiar figure on the first floor. That person stood nearly below the stairs, so Claire almost couldn't see him. _Jack_, she thought, _so he planned to go here too_. Claire held the wooden hedge and leaned carefully. It was really Jack.

"What is he reading?" Claire questioned in her mind after seeing how deep and serious Jack read every sentence of the book. She tried to look at the pages; there were some diagrams and small photos. The writings were all in small size, and it looked like nothing more but single lines from Claire's place.

Jack put his hand on his chin, seemingly deep in thought. He continued to the next page, and after some seconds, Claire could faintly hear him unconsciously say something which sounded like: "hmm, so that was it. I see…" Claire watched him for a while and started to wonder just what kind of life Jack had had before he came to Mineral Town.

"What's the matter, Claire?" said a man behind Claire. The girl almost jumped in shock. She quickly turned at him and tried to control her breath. "Gray, you frightened me," she said, almost whispering. "Just how long have you been there behind me?"

"Er… Just now, actually," he answered, seemingly a bit unsure. "And just what were you doing?"

Gray looked to where Claire had been looking before and said, "Were you watching Ja—"

Claire quickly put her hands on Gray's mouth to stop him saying anything further. The boy blinked confusedly, and Claire whispered, almost panicked, "His ears are sensitive to his name. He could hear when you said his name, even if you whisper it."

Gray raised one of his eyebrows. "Creepy," he said. He looked at Mary, and was reminded of the books she had recommended before. So he left after a short explanation of his purpose, and headed directly to Mary's desk. Claire sighed in relief. She leaned on again and looked below, but there was no Jack. It seemed that he had moved to a shelf just below the stairs.

---x:o:x---

As she had said before in the dusk, Claire headed to the hills to collect some wild grapes. She dropped by Gotz's house to say hello to his Uncle Louis. The old man seemed happy when she came. He asked her to sit and prepared tea for them. Claire told him her problem, and Louis thought for a while.

"Bored… I see…" he looked to the ceiling while Claire slowly sipped the warm tea he had prepared before. "And you ran out of interesting books in the library?"

Claire nodded, and then sipped the tea again. Louis thought again, and suddenly his face glowed with excitement. "Ooh! Claire, did you know that some villagers write their own books?"

The young blonde girl blinked, and finally put her tea cup down. "Well, yes…" she paused, and got what the old man meant. "Do you think I should write my own?"

"Why not? It's quite easy and fun," he replied. "Wait for a moment."

He stood and slowly walked to a shelf near the kitchen. Claire remembered that she had read books that villagers had made. One of her favorite was Mary's, which told a story of a detective. She curled her eyebrows. '_Or was it about UFO? Or both?' _she thought. It was quite funny that she didn't remember the content of the book but remembered it as her favorite. At that moment, Louis had been back to his seat across her; and he put a book on the table. Claire took and opened it. It was full of blank pages.

"You can have it." The old man said and smiled. "Write whatever you want to write inside the book, and if you feel it interesting, you can share it with people by letting Mary have a copy for the library. How is that to you?"

Claire imagined reading her own book in the library. Might be awkward, but also exciting. So she held the book firmly and smiled. "Thanks, uncle Louis!"

"Ho, ho," the old man laughed, and said before sipping his tea, "Make sure to tell me when it's going to be published."

---x:o:x---

Father Carter was walking on the field of cemeteries when his usual guests came. He turned and greeted them. "Good afternoon, little angels."

May smiled as sweet as ever and greeted back, "Hello, Father."

"Angels? We're not _dead_ yet," Stu added, snorted. May glared at him and he raised his eyebrows. "What?"

Carter just laughed seeing the children. He was about to invite them to warm themselves inside the church when he saw a plastic bag held by each child. Knowing that the man had noticed the bags, the two children looked into each other and finally stretched their plastic bags out.

"You had always make cookies for us, so we think that we should make you something…" Stu firstly explained. May nodded, and continued his explanation although she seemed unsure. "There were lot of recipes, but they were all too hard for us. So we ended up making another set of cookies for you," she said.

"They're ginger cookies! And we shaped them like that ginger bread man. I suppose Father would know it, right?" Stu added, giggling.

Father Carter seemed to not believe what he heard. He looked like he was about to say something, but no words were spoken. After a while, he finally smiled, seemingly very happy of something. "Why… thank you. I couldn't express my feelings well, but I am really happy that you made these for me. You are such nice children."

"Don't cry, Father," May said anxiously seeing how Carter reacted. Carter let out a small sigh and smiled, this time wider than usual. He took the plastic bags into his arms and stroked the children's heads gently. "Let us come inside and I hope that you won't mind eating it with hot chocolates."

May and Stu looked at each other full of excitement and raced into the church. Carter just chuckled and followed behind them. He closed the door behind him, and then there was no further sound except the sound of leaves rubbing each other for the wind had moved them again.

Claire had been watching them from the shades of trees at the road which connected the church and the Rose Square. She recorded what she had just seen in her mind, and closing her eyes, she touched her chest gently. _Warm_, she thought. Past memories which had started ever since she firstly opened her eyes in Jack's house were being replayed in her head. She could see and hear them all. She listened to it carefully.

Wind blew again, this time was cooler. Claire opened her eyes and felt her cheeks felt somewhat warm. She smiled to herself. At that moment, she knew right away what to do with her blank book.

---x:o:x---

_There was a little girl who ran away from her home._

_She was a stubborn one and thought that she could live by herself._

'_I don't need anyone to take care of me,' she said, and walked far, far away from her home._

_Not bringing anything with her, she kept on going._

_She passed a park and saw many children at her age there, playing._

'_I wanted to play, but I don't know them,' she thought._

_She stayed for a while, watching them running around laughing._

_But minutes passed and there was no one asked her to join. She had this sullen face and finally stood up._

'_I have wasted my time; I'd better go and let them play whatever they want,' she thought, and she walked again._

_Finally, afternoon came and she started to feel hungry._

_She brought nothing with her and felt sad._

'_What should I eat?' she asked to herself._

_Suddenly a strong wind came and blew her hat to the air. 'No, my hat!'_

_She ran and chased._

_Her hat flung away high, and stuck at the top of a tree. The girl couldn't reach for it._

'_Oh, no. Now I feel tired and thirsty,' she said._

_A drop of water fell from the sky, and then another._

_Finally it rained. The girl was soaked wet. She was hungry, thirsty, tired, wet, and she lost her hat._

'_Why me?' she asked. She was very sad._

_She walked aimlessly, crying. It was very cold and there was hardly a place for a shelter._

_But then from afar, she saw a little house on a hill._

'_A shelter!' She ran to the house._

_The door opened with a creaking sound, and the house was completely dark._

_No one was inside._

_She went inside and found that everything was out of her reach; she was too small to turn the light, too small to open the shelf, and too small to sit on the chairs._

_A thunder sparked and boomed the sky. She was afraid and quickly ran to hide._

_So the little girl curled under the dining table and cried._

'_I want to go home,' she cried. 'I'm scared, hungry, wet, and alone.'_

'_I miss my family.' She sobbed and cried._

_Suddenly the lights were lit on, and she heard several footsteps._

_Her father peeked down and saw her. He was very surprised. 'She's here!'_

_Her father took her and carried her. Her mother kissed her many times. Her dog barked happily, and his brother stroked her head._

'_We were looking for you,' her mother said. She looked very happy. 'We are so glad that you're safe, sweetheart.'_

'_Oh, Mother!' she cried and flung to her mother's arm, crying. 'I'm sorry for what I've done! I promise I will never run away again!'_

_Her family hugged her, and the little girl fulfilled her promise. They lived happily ever after._

---x:o:x---

"I've read the book which you wrote at the library," Jack started when they were eating breakfast. It was some days after Claire had finished her book and decided to let Mary had a copy. She got choked when Jack said that and coughed hard. Jack just smiled. "I never thought that you'll write a child's story."

"It was a good one. Glad that the little girl finally lives happily ever after with her family," he added, and drank his coffee. Claire was unable to say anything. She bashfully looked down to her tea. Jack was the first one to comment, and she knew that she had to prepare herself for another comments from the villagers.

Didn't know what to do, she finally started eating her sandwich again.

On the other hand, Jack was reminiscing of when Claire firstly came to his house. He remembered it clear; she looked so weak and empty. He figured that being alone in a new neighborhood was a bit scary after all. _The girl who ran away from her home_, he thought, and was reminded of Claire. She had said it before to him; that she had remembered herself getting onto a cruise before finally thrown out to the ocean.

He recalled Claire's book again and wondered whether it was a message about herself and her dreams. _Just like the little girl…_

"Claire," he called her. The blonde girl raised her face and blinked curiously. Jack looked at her and gave a simple smile, "I hope you'll find your family soon."

Claire's heart skipped a beat. Her mind was blank for a moment, as she was simply surprised of Jack's words. She smiled wide, and replied softly, "Yes, I hope so. Thanks, Jack."

And they continued their breakfast without further conversation. Done cleaning up the plastic wrappers and washing the cups, they prepared themselves for the day. Jack put on his usual red scarf around his neck and wore his cap, while Claire put a hairpin inside her pocket, in case if her hair would be in the way. Jack turned to face her, "Shall we?"

Claire nodded in reply, and let Jack opened the door to the field.

_Finding my family._

Sunlight sprayed from the door and Jack's figure suddenly seemed dark like a shadow.

_If I do, will I leave this place?_

Jack stepped out, but somehow his motions looked very slow in Claire's eyes. Seeing Jack's back getting far from her gave her a feeling that there was this distance between her and the young man. It was as if he was leaving to a place she couldn't reach. She felt as if she would never meet him again for the rest of her life. And it was scary.

She felt a faint fear inside her chest, and at the same time, also a slight mixture of sadness and emptiness. Somehow seeing him walked like this felt heart-throbbing to her.

Her feet moved before her mind done taking a decision. She ran after him, her heart raced as if something was chasing her behind.

Jack yelled in surprise when Claire bumped him from behind. He looked to the blonde girl. "Geez, what ha—"

He stopped soon as he realized that she was clutching on his clothes. She raised her face to him and asked softly, in sad tones, "Where are you going…?"

Jack was speechless for some moments seeing how terrified the girl looked. He held the girl's hand inside his palm hand, and saw deep into her eyes. "I'm not going anywhere," he said, gently. He walked to the field, holding Claire's hand, and the girl followed. She didn't know why she suddenly felt or said that, but she decided to keep those thoughts away from her. She grasped Jack's hand and closed her eyes, hoping that the usual days would continue forever.

---x:o:x---

To be continued.

_Next on Two Lives:_

"_Get away from me!!" She yelled desperately in the dark._

_Something keeps on haunting her. Claire soon finds that that autumn will not be as enjoyable as she thought._

"_Two Lives Record 8: Chains". Read and review, please!_

---x:o:x---

Harvest N.G.

Gray looked to where Claire had been looking before and said, "Were you watching Ja—"

Claire quickly put her hands on Gray's mouth to stop him saying anything further. The boy blinked confusedly, and Claire whispered, almost panicked, "His ears are sensitive to his name. He could hear when you said his name, even if you whisper it."

"What?!" Gray seemed shocked. "You mean, like, if we call his name three times, he would pop out and appears before us?? Wow…!"

Claire blinked and smiled, hesitated. "I, uh… I think I had never said that…"

_End of N.G._


	8. Record 8

Disclaimer : I don't own Harvest Moon series, okay.

* * *

**Harvest Moon~Two Lives**

**Record 8: Chains**

"I won!" Stu exclaimed and jumped happily. He laughed and seemed like he would dance, while Claire and May looked down to their hands.

That day was not much different than the other days; in which Claire had decided to meet the children at their usual meeting place during her free-time after works at Jack's farm. She had wanted to do something else than just reading in the town's library, and May and Stu had helped her fill her time. It was a cloudy afternoon, the sky was grey and everything seemed so pale, but those wouldn't hamper them from fulfilling the need to meet each other and simply play. Claire enjoyed being with the little children; for their laughs and smiles had always enlightened her.

So, she was there. They were playing "King's Game" and decided who would be the King with paper-scissors-rock, an old but simple way. Stu had won five times in a row now.

"Oh, Stu. Why do you always win?" May mumbled. It was obvious that she was tired of being lost all the time. Stu didn't seem to hear her; he was busy celebrating his winning by jumping around laughing. May sighed in disappointment.

"Stu sure is very lucky today," Claire stated and giggled. She couldn't deny that she felt also a faint of the same feeling as May. Only, she tried to be mature. It was a game, anyway, so she had to accept whatever it might turned out for her. She convinced her mind again, reminding herself to put an end to her losing on the next round. It wasn't like she was going to lose all the time to a child, anyway! _Go, Claire_, she said in mind, and turned at Stu full of confidence. "Okay, Stu! Who do you want to give command first?"

Stu stopped jumping and thought for a while. He pointed at Claire and said cheerfully, "You first, Claire! Ooh, I know just what you have to do!"

_Hopefully not something embarrassing_, she hoped in her mind. She recalled that Stu once had asked her to dance and sing; and Father Carter was there, watching her doing all dancing things. Just remembering it made her wanted to hide somewhere. Claire kept on thinking possibilities of commands which Stu may asked her to do, and that just made her more nervous.

"Claire, I command you to turn your back and shout 'I love you' when I count to three," Stu said, seemingly very happy. Claire gawked. Behind her was the church's main gate, and anyone could come out from there when she said that. And definitely, Stu would wait for someone to come out when he counts to three. If it was Father Carter, she wouldn't mind much. She liked him, and she figured that the man would probably reply something like: 'I love you too, my dear child'; and that thought relieved her. Only she didn't know who would appear first.

_Whatever; I'd just close my eyes so I won't have to see the person… _Claire sighed while May tried to cheer her up. Stu started counting, "One, two… three!"

The girl quickly turned, closing her eyes, and shouted, "I love you!"

Even so, she couldn't hold her curiosity and ended up looked at the person after she had said that. And she was stunned when she saw Dr. Trent was looking at her. The black haired man seemed as shocked as Claire was, and he had stopped on where he was. Claire felt as if she could turn into a stone. She and the doctor stared at each other blankly for some moments, not knowing of what to do.

---x:o:x---

"And after that, I didn't dare to visit Elli at the clinic…" Claire ended her story with a slight sigh. Cliff chuckled. Claire placed four bunches of grapes inside her bag and walked sideways to take some more.

She was helping out at the winery, and had asked Cliff to join since the young man didn't seem to have anything to do daily. And it was a good coincidence; Cliff seemed to be looking for a job when Claire had asked him before. The girl had had already asked Jack about this, and he had said that he didn't mind her helping Manna and Duke. They both knew that there had been some problems in Duke's family, regarding to their daughter, Aja, who had left some years ago. And in season like this, Jack had figured that they would have to ask for extra hands for their grapes would bear the fruits.

"And what kind of face did Dr. Trent make?" Cliff asked. Claire turned to face him and mimicked how Dr. Trent looked like. She widened her eyes as wide as she could and opened her mouth a little; hands and feet placed so as if she was stopped when she was walking. Cliff laughed at this. Claire laughed too. Somehow she didn't feel embarrassed when she was being with this person, and that enables her to do or say anything she wanted to. But that relieved her, since she could hardly do the same thing with other guys in town. Exception for Jack, of course. And maybe, Kai. But he had left since the beginning of fall so that made him out of the options.

_Claire…_

The girl stopped and turned to see her surroundings.

Cliff noticed her sudden change, and asked, "What is it?"

"No…" Claire replied unsurely; her eyes were still inspecting the wine field. "I think I heard someone calling my name just now."

Cliff blinked in confuse. "Really?" He turned and looked at their surroundings too. "That's weird. I didn't hear anything."

The winery field was as quiet as it was in usual days; even clanking noises from old Saibara's workplace could be hardly heard. No matter it was in daytime or evening; people would seldom pass the road in front of the house, since it was almost remote from other places.

Ten meters from them was Duke, the owner of the wine field. And then, there were the two of them, standing beside each other, surrounded by rows of purple-reddish grape plants. There was no one else.

Claire looked down blankly, feeling a bit unsafe. _It was just my imagination_, she convinced herself. She took a deep breath and continued harvesting the wine grapes. She tried to think of something else, and hoped that after she did, she would feel a bit better. Claire secretly moved a step closer to Cliff, so if something suddenly appeared out of nowhere, she would not have to yell for help.

But the second when Claire stopped to pick other grapes, she noticed something which really made her heart felt as if it could burst into her lungs.

From the shades of leaves and curling vines, she could see a pair of legs standing in the row just across her. It wore the same brown trousers and leather boots as Cliff, and even the posture was exactly like Cliff's. Although the face was hindered by the winery plants, any one could mention right away that it was Cliff.

_No way_, Claire whispered in her mind. It was impossible to say that it was Cliff… for the man was standing right _next to_ the girl.

Claire's eyes widened in terror and her spine was somewhat cold all of a sudden. Terrifying thoughts shouted at each other in her head, and she couldn't help but to listen to all of it. She couldn't move; her breath trembled. She felt as if something was crawling inside her chest when the figure moved some steps sideways toward the end of the row.

Stopped. Some steps again. Stopped. And then some steps again.

The figure slowly moved to the end of the row. In no time, _his_ eyes would surely met Claire. The girl couldn't bear thinking of seeing the figure, whoever it was, or _whatever_ it was. Terrible thoughts kept creeping into her mind as the figure got closer and closer to her.

Claire gritted her teeth, keeping the urge to scream. She gasped instead of breathing. One more step and she could see the face. One more. The figure moved the feet, and…

"Waah!" Claire closed her eyes and placed both hands on her ears.

There were some silent seconds after. Nothing happened.

Claire yelled in surprise when someone held her shoulders. It was Cliff, who had stood next to him since they had started working.

"What happened?" he asked, looking at Claire full of anxiety.

Claire gripped on Cliff's hands and bit her lower lip. Her mind was left blank, her body trembled, but she managed to whisper, "…behind me… Behind me…"

The man didn't fully understand the meaning of her one sentence, but he knew that something had happened. Possibly something terrible, then that Claire suddenly became like that. She looked like she would run away and hide somewhere if she could. The man raised his face quickly to whatever it was which stood before Claire. After he had, he was silenced.

"Claire," Cliff said, slowly. His deep brown eyes were still locked to something behind Claire. Claire held her breath.

"…there is nothing there."

The girl felt as if the time had stopped ticking when he said that. Cliff averted her eyes and looked Claire instead. Not believing his words, Claire slowly turned her head.

And he was right, no one was there.

---x:o:x---

Jack folded both arms and sat relaxed. Sometimes he would gaze at the wooden clock which hung near the shelves on the corner of the room, feeling rather impatient or worried about his farm. He had been leaving his field for almost half an hour then, waiting for his call. Although there weren't many things left to do at his farm for the day, it would be much pleasing for him to finish them off before doing other activities. He remembered that he needed to ask for more red potato seeds, to replace his previous diseased ones.

He was there, in clinic's waiting lounge. Sitting beside him was Claire, the one who had dragged him there before. It seemed that she had noticed Jack's fever when she was helping him around a few days ago. Claire had gone home earlier that day, and considering of how Jack always postpone his medical check-up, she met no other choice but to take the man with her.

Except the old patients' small talks, there were no words came out from both two youngsters. Claire had shut her mouth ever since she had managed to bring Jack along, while Jack was busy adjusting his agenda in mind.

Done with scheduling tasks, Jack glanced at the blonde girl, for she was then staring blankly at the flower pot on a desk in front of them. Jack coughed, hoping that could brought the girl's attention; but he failed, and ended up coughing for real since he was actually not in a good condition.

Claire even didn't blink to this; she just kept on staring at the flower pot as if it was trying to tell her something. Jack leaned closer to her and whisper, "Claire."

As though she was given an electric shock, she straightened up her back and widened her eyes in surprise. She held her chest and turned to see Jack, who was also surprised for her sudden reactions. "W-what?" she asked.

"Something happened?"

Claire stared at Jack for some seconds, as if there were writings on his forehead; after a while, she shook her head awkwardly and turned again to see the flower pot. She was not good in lying, anyway. She knew that Jack knew something was wrong with her, even if she had refused to tell him. So finally she said, "I saw two Cliffs today."

Jack didn't give any respond.

"Remember, like when you met Dr. Trent in the hill, but Elli said that he actually didn't go there?" Claire looked rather hesitant. "Why are we seeing two same persons? And why did they vanish after we saw them?"

"You know what," Jack paused, and averted his eyes from the girl, and looked at the curtains not so far away from them instead. "I think I was only seeing things. There couldn't be two exact persons in this world."

Claire curled her eyebrows and looked at him full of questions. "But… But you were very sure that you saw him."

She was right. As far as she remembered, Jack had been very sure that he had seen the figure at the hill. And he had mentioned strange things when he met Elli and Claire in front of the clinic; something about similar band-aid and about meeting Elli before in the morning.

"True, but if we think about it again, it's simply impossible," Jack answered. Claire looked like she was about to say something, but she stopped as Jack looked at her again. This time he seemed very sure of his words. "Or, are saying that you can explain why did it happen, then?"

Claire repeated Jack's words in her mind and processed. He was also correct; there was still possibility of them to saw things. Could be because they had been tired at that time. Jack had just been finished mining, so it was very clear that he had been tired that day; but Claire knew well that she was feeling rather okay when she worked at the winery.

"Oh, no," Claire put one hand on her mouth, surprised of her own thoughts. "Could it be… _doppelgangers_?"

She once read in a book that among myths around the world, that there was such 'being' called doppelganger_, _a double or look-alike of a person. It was said that seeing one's doppelganger means an omen of death. Or, if people see their friend's or relative's doppelganger, means that something will happen to the person who they've seen; whether it is illness or danger.

_Couldn't be_, Claire thought again. Nothing had happened to the village's doctor after that event.

"Better keep busy yourself. They say that if we often doze off, we'll start seeing things," Jack said. He raised one eyebrow, seemingly unsure. "They _say_ so. That was also my first time having seen that kind of strange thing."

Claire was silenced at first, but then she nodded slowly. "Might be true… I've heard that too, once."

Maybe she had to lessen playing with the kids. Or maybe she had to lessen walking around the village aimlessly like usual. When she thought about it, she suddenly felt embarrassed to the fact that she often did useless things daily. Even though she didn't know how Jack spends his free-time, she figured that the guy must have had fill it with something in case of reserving their daily needs. She started thinking of activities which she could do after work at the farm. Knit some shawls, maybe. She could ask Grandma Ellen to teach her how. Winter would still be far, but no one would complain for that, she guessed.

"Jack, please come in," Elli said, revealing her figure from the curtains.

Jack and Claire stood up and directly went into the small room. Dr. Trent was sitting on his usual chair, while Elli put some papers on his desk. He read fast the papers Elli had gave him, and asked while putting it back, "So, ever since four days ago, his body had high temperature, and not getting well up to now, correct? Any other?"

Claire shook while Jack didn't give any respond. Dr. Trent then asked Elli to check Jack's temperature; and after she had done, she looked at the measure and said, "Why, this is not high..."

"See," Jack turned and protested at Claire. "I told you I'm fine."

"…but _incredibly high_." Elli continued.

Claire smirked, while Jack decided to be silent. Elli just chuckled.

"Hmm. It's amazing how you can still work with this fever. A workaholic, eh?" Dr. Trent asked monotonously. He moved nearer to Jack and prepared his stethoscope.

Jack sighed and opened his shirt. Claire hurriedly turned, somehow was embarrassed to see Jack's bare chest. Elli looked at her full of questions, but decided not to ask, and went out, back to her counter. Took some seconds before the black haired man done. He moved his chair by kicking the floor, making it rolled till he reached the shelf just beside his desk, and took something out from a blue plastic box.

"I will have to proceed with a blood test," he said, and moved his chair with the same way like before, to Jack.

The young farmer stopped doing his buttons and stared blankly at Dr. Trent. Claire glanced curiously at him.

Doctor stretched Jack's right arm and looked for the right vein. He then rubbed a spot with an alcohol-wet fleshy tissue, and took the syringe. Some centimetres away from the skin, Jack moved his arm and that made Dr. Trent had to stop.

"Why do we have to take this blood test?" Jack asked. Dr. Trent stared at him for a while before answering with his usual tone, "Because, there is a possibility that you have a certain virus in your body. And if you do, I'm afraid I have to quarantine you here for further medicament."

Dr. Trent pulled Jack's arm back to the right position and was about to do his work when Jack moved his arm again.

"I'd rather you to use a knife rather than that, though," Jack said, and smiled awkwardly. "It's a fast way to take some amount of blood."

"Well, Jack," Dr. Trent said again. "True, but it would be more troublesome since the blood possibly would be contaminated by the bacterial elements on your skin, and the gap would take more time to close and recover. Besides, we won't have to take that much of your blood. Now, will you let me do my work?"

Dr. Trent, again, placed Jack's arm back to the previous position, and rubbed it again. He even hadn't taken the syringe when Jack folded his arm.

The doctor turned to Claire and asked, with a low tone, "Claire, would you please…?"

Claire knew what he meant, so she directly moved to Jack's side and held his arm in a way so it wouldn't move. Seeing how Jack looked at the syringe, Dr. Trent said, "Won't hurt much. Now, relax or it will take more time for the blood to flow in."

Jack started to move his arm again, and Claire had difficulty in keeping it in the right position. She mumbled in her mind and tried to figure out something. She just needed to buy some milliseconds for Jack to stay still so Dr. Trent could take his blood. She hurriedly thought and when she had found it, she gasped and said, "Gosh! I forgot to fill Brownies' food plate!"

"What?" Jack turned at her in surprise.

Dr. Trent took the chance and injected the syringe inside Jack's skin, making the young farmer twitched like a mad cat. But after some seconds, Jack relaxed his shoulders and seemingly submitted to his fate. Claire let out a long sigh.

So, after the check-up had been done, Dr. Trent gave them a list of medicines which Jack had to take while waiting for the test result. They went out, took the medicines at Elli's counter and paid some good, and headed home. None of them talked along the way. Jack was probably embarrassed of his childish attitude back at the clinic, while Claire simply could not think of any comment.

---x:o:x---

Claire opened her eyes and found out only that the room's lamp had been turned off and that she was sweating all over her body. Jack was fast asleep; for Claire could only hear his breath. She couldn't see him, then that the room was separated by a simple curtain, which divided the room into two; one part for Claire, and the other for Jack. It had been done so that each of them could have their own privacies.

Claire had never complaint about this one, but then she guessed she did.

She was suddenly awoken from her sleep and somehow feeling scared of the dark. Even though the moon light had shone her from the window near her bed, she still couldn't feel as safe as usual, didn't know why. Somehow the shadow of the trees outside her window made her feel as if it would move itself like skinny hands of ghosts which she often sees in movies.

She closed her eyes, hoping to get rid of that terrible thought and get back to sleep, but she failed.

_Claire_…

The blonde girl opened his eyes in surprise. _That voice again, _she thought. She didn't dare to look to her surroundings; she just breathed slowly and softly, hoping that the voice couldn't find her that way.

She trembled and prayed in her mind.

_Claire…_

This time, she couldn't resist averting her eyes to a space in front of her bed. White thing like fog appeared from nowhere and slowly formed something. A head. It flew slowly toward her; the face was very much unclear and the sections which seemed like its mouth opened and closed slowly, and hoarsely called her again, "_Claire…_"

Claire screamed as hard as she could and pulled her blanket covering her face. She could still hear it calling her name. "Get away from me!" She yelled in desperate.

There were some noises after and then someone rushed to her room. "Claire, what happened? !"

But Claire screamed again. Someone then opened her blanket and Jack's worried face came to her vision. Claire quickly gazed at the air where she seen the _thing_ before and found out that it had already gone.

"A head," Claire said, gasping, pointing to a space in front of her bed. "I saw a head f-floating there and i-it was c-c-calling for my n-name and got closer and c-closer to me and—"

Claire closed her eyes and placed both hands on her ears; her body was shaking terribly hard. The image of that white thing she guessed as a ghost lurked still in her head, and she kept imagining it would appear again before her when Jack wasn't there. It scared her.

Jack looked around and found nothing suspicious in the room. He leaned over and looked outside of the window, and found the same thing, nothing. He then walked to his part of the room again, turned on the lamps, and got back to Claire's bedside with a glass of water.

The girl couldn't be convinced that what she had seen was just a nightmare, and she seemed to be scared enough to sleep alone; so Jack had to open the curtains, and move his bed nearer to Claire's. He then turned the lamps off again, and got back to the same part of the room as Claire, where he had moved his bed to.

Claire seemed to be quite in an ease when he did, and after some silent minutes, she got back to sleep. Jack made sure that she had gone back to her slumber, and tried to get a comfy position. He lied down and stared at the ceiling for a while.

Some whispers came into his ears like soft wind, but he didn't budge.

"I know," he muttered softly, and closed his eyes.

---x:o:x---

To be continued.

_Next on Two Lives:_

"_The name's Chef," the red one bent politely._

"_I will be fine," Claire smiled to the man, trying to look as strong as she could. "Besides, I am not alone."_

_She didn't know that it will turn out like this. Maybe because he always keeps things on his own. Like it or not, she has to change and be more dependent to herself._

"_Two Lives Record 9: Singing Hill". Read and review, please!_

---x:o:x---

Harvest N.G.

She mumbled in her mind and tried to figure out something. She just needed to buy some milliseconds for Jack to stay still so Dr. Trent could take his blood. She hurriedly thought something, anything, and when she had found it, she gasped and blurted out, "Gosh! Elli, why are you wearing a bikini!"

"What?" Jack and Dr. Trent turned at where Elli was in surprise.

Jack had a nosebleed, while Dr. Trent coughed nervously and said, "I mean, that can't be true, can it? Yes, exactly…"

_End of N.G._


	9. Record 9

Disclaimer : I don't own Harvest Moon series, okay.

**Harvest Moon~Two Lives**

**Record 9: Singing Hill**

Claire watched as Jack drank his last pill. She put both hands towering her chin, looked upward to the farmer who had just finished drinking the whole glass. He huffed, in the contrary to Claire's mind that she had thought he would hop in his place happily. But, no, he didn't, and it made her disappointed even for a bit. She would love to see Jack at his worst look; she had started thinking about it ever since he had revealed his weakness toward syringe. And she thought that Jack knew what went into her mind, as he was now looking at her with flashed eyebrows. Well, not that much.

"What is it? Feels creepy when you're smiling out of blue," he asked, putting down his glass to the basin. Claire just played her two feet, decided not to answer. She would usually shot back at his teases, but for now, she guessed that she'd just keep it for later. Instead, she simply turned on the television and pressed the button for Morning News.

Jack's blood test result had come out a day after the day Dr. Trent had taken the sample. Thank goddesses, it had appeared that Jack was not infected by the virus the doctor had talked about. The antibiotics they had bought should have been drunk by him, and Claire would always there to assure Jack had drunk those. He had hated medicines; that was one thing that she had known just recently. The first time Jack had to drink his pills, he had looked as if he had been forced to eat a cockroach or something (which also had been the reason why Claire held her mouth—to prevent her laughter burst out), and he had finished it real quick. Nothing happened after that, though.

Didn't care more than to listen to the news, Jack passed the dining table toward their toolbox to check his farming equipment, as he remembered that he needed to fix his hammer. The last time he had used it, it made a sound which sounded like it would crack to pieces. Maybe he had put too much strength into it, who knows. Anyways, he had planned that today he'd ask for Saibara's help. Oh, yes. That old man really got his things right. His grandson was always there too, although he would stated always that he hated following his grandfather.

Jack's thigh hit the edge of the table, and it made him bent down in pain. Claire just raised one eyebrow seeing him like this. "Cast the spell, Jack," she said. The television brought her attention again. Jack was always clumsy in every morning; very much different than how he behaved during work, she even wondered why. One day, she recalled, he had tripped on his own feet and almost hit his face on the wall. And those incidents would mostly, always, happened during the time before they went out from the house to do their jobs. As for Claire, well, she couldn't really comment on anything about herself. She would say that she was fair in every time in days; denying the fact that she often had her fingers nipped by the toolbox, watered the crops with an empty watering can, gave too much fish food into the pond… Claire inhaled deeply at this. She wouldn't accept losing, no way. Jack and her were at the same level at this, well, carelessness.

Done checking every programs Claire thought they needed to know, she turned the television off and stood, making her chair shifted backwards. She pulled it back to its place and walked to Jack who had waited for her just before the door. This was like a ritual to Claire, and she loved it; the moment when Jack opened the door and when both of them stepped together through the door which leads into their farm, the outer world. It might sound ridiculous to others, but to Claire, this was a very important moment and a good way to start the day. Claire smiled as she imagined warm morning sunlight wrapping them.

Only that she wasn't completely right. It was very windy all right, and that froze the two young farmers on their places. Cold wind blew again, and this time both of them rubbed their arms.

"You really should finish knitting our shawls, Claire," Jack said, and coughed twice.

Claire just smiled awkwardly at this. She had been knitting two shawls, one for each person; white for her, and the red one for Jack. But, well, she really had no mood in working on it lately, and she was actually almost forgot where she had put those to-be shawls. Afraid that he would know about this, Claire just rubbed her cheeks with her forefinger nervously, and answered, "Yeah, sure. I think so too. Don't worry about it. Haha…"

Jack just chuckled and walked ahead of Claire toward a bag full of fertilizer.

Some hours later.

The door chimed as the girl opened it. A familiar figure stood behind the cashier desk, and that very person smiled cheerfully at her. They greeted each other like usual. The girl had no chance explaining the reason of her coming, for then another familiar figure opened (banged, maybe) the door in the corner of the large room. She was tall, and her long hair swayed smoothly as she moved. Her name was Karen.

"Little Claire! Oh, finally you came!" Karen hugged her tight as if they hadn't met for centuries. That wasn't her usual style. Claire began to wonder what could make the usual calm and cool young adult into a very loud one like this. She didn't need to ask, though. Karen directly reached for Claire's hands and guided her into her residence. Claire nodded as polite and as quick as she could to Jeff, Karen's father, who stood behind the cashier desk, as she matched Karen's fast steps.

The young woman asked Claire to sit, pointing at the dining table. Claire did as she said. Sasha, Karen's mother, was simply rubbing some antique plates near the shelf. From where she was seated, Claire could see the kitchen right in front of her. A weird scent tickled her. She tried to cast it away by fanned it with her hand. Secretly, of course; it would be impolite if the owner of the house knew she was doing this. While walking into the kitchen, Karen started her explanation of having called Claire to visit her.

"You see, I have just learn how to cook. And I somehow managed to make one of the recipes aunt Mana did give me. It was a very simple one, and I think I did it quite well, but…"

Sasha snorted. Seemed that Karen didn't notice it, though.

Karen came out with a plate and smiled gleefully. "I need your opinion about this. So, what do you think?"

Claire's eyebrows twitched as she studied the 'thing' on the plate Karen had just placed. Since it was put on a plate, Claire supposed that it was a food, after all. The weird scent she had just ward off from her nose came tickling again, or rather, attacked her again, this time thicker. She knew right away where it did come from. There could possibly be no other object than the suspicious-looking cooking of her sister-like friend, which lied still, seemingly waited for someone to dumped it into trash bin. Some seconds passed as she tried her best to figure what it supposed to be. She had to answer something. "Um," she said, finally. She could not look Karen in the eyes. "I think it looks, um, unique. Yes, unique."

Then, nervously, she smiled, after collecting some guts into look at Karen. "What is this called?" Claire asked again, trying to be polite by using soft words, being careful not to hurt Karen's feelings. It was a meaningless effort, for the emerald green eyes' owner then dropped her shoulders.

"It's okay to say whatever you want to say," Karen said as she crossed her arms, for one more time, she looked at her own cooking. She had guessed that it would turn out into something like this. Not once in her lifetime could she make even a simple cooking, except those instant junk foods she sometimes kept when she wanted to eat in midnight. Being a girl sure is tough, so she thought; since it had been, like, a culture or belief that women were specialized at making cuisines. She had disliked that idea, and that could have been the source of her hard works. Why, only the previous Cooking Festival, the gourmet who had acted as the one who did the scoring had actually verbally insulted her in front of all the audiences. Oh, had she could never ever forget that moment. Just the thought of it raged her inside.

On the other hand, Claire seemingly knew of what went on her friend's mind, and she directly stood up. "Come on, I'll help you. Isn't that the reason I came here?" she said, trying to get back Karen's spirit into her. Even though it had not been a long time since Jack enlarged his humble house, which also meant since they got their kitchen, Claire nevertheless had put it into a good use. Not as good as Ann or her father, of course, but she was pretty confident about her cooking, and that fact had made her the chef in the house.

Karen seemed to be glowing with joy as she grinned, showing her perfect teeth. Relieved that Karen looked better, Claire suggested them to check what were left inside the fridge, unless, of course, she wanted to buy the whole ingredients at her store. Gladly there were enough of them, which Claire thought could be make into something simple. Pancakes would do, so she thought, and she told Karen this and they started picking up whatever they need out of the cool white box which stood patiently in the very same spot for years.

"Be careful not to dirty the kitchen much, dears," Sasha said, looked up from another pale-colored plate she was holding. The brunette pursed her lips at this, and muttered, "Too late, mom. I already have."

Her mother raised her shoulders and sighed secretly. "Well, then, try not to destroy it," she said, and this made Claire chuckled while Karen muttered 'I get it' while trying to hid her laugh.

Moments seemed to pass by so very quickly, very quick that Claire almost didn't notice that it was 5 PM already. Glad that the kitchen had a window, and that was the only source for Claire to know the time, as the only wall clock hung on the outer side of the room; and it had opened her eyes wider than usual, literally. Two plates sat side-by-side on the dining table, both of them filled with layers of pancakes, smeared with some spoons of middle-quality honey and a small butter on top of them.; on one plate were the little burned ones, obviously Karen's. But that was quite an achievement she had reached, for it was her first time to successfully make a splendid but a bit flawed food. And it almost seemed that she could cry in relieve as she cuddled Claire for the umpteenth time in her life, while the blonde yanked in embarrassment. Still hadn't got used to it, it seemed for her.

In some minutes, they finished cleaning the mess they had made before in the kitchen. They folded the plastic wrappers, boxes of flour and other messes (yes, it came out they bought more for the ingredients) and tied it neatly before putting it inside the trash bin outside of the house. Quite a surprise for Claire, that Sasha had packed Claire's pancakes inside a lunchbox while they were busy doing the aftermath. Karen had offered to walk her home, but Claire refused, as she figured that Karen surely would like to take some rest after hours of cooking. Well, it should had not been that long, normally, of course. But teaching surely was very tiring than what Claire had had expected. Karen was a good student, though her hunger of experimenting sometimes may have gone in the way, but it really wasn't a big matter for Claire. She recalled Karen had had asked her whether she could put juice inside the dough or not, some minutes after, out-of-season strawberries, wine… Claire had told her that "delicious doesn't mean it can make something good when put up together", although Karen seemed didn't really comprehend that. Maybe, and possibly definitely, she needed more cooking lesson with Claire.

The girl walked fast but careful not to spoil their dinner she was holding. She swung her feet efficiently, raced with the remaining sunlight which slowly dimmed and blurred by the night sky. She loved to see night skies very much, especially those in clear days, when the sea of stars hung quietly above her head, seemingly very gentle and kind, and glistened and sang lullabies for earth. In summer, she could spent at least half an hour sitting in front of Jack's house, ignoring any single buzzes and red marks the mosquitoes had made. But in autumn like that, the sky would often be covered with thin clouds, enough to block some fabulous scenery which she had loved. And it gave her an uneasy feeling whenever she saw the dark and empty horizon, just like what she felt now, although she had been doing her best calming herself that she needed only a few minutes before arriving at the bright house, where Jack and Brownies awaited. Claire put a finger on her lips, wondering if it would be no problem if she were to give it some portions of the pancakes. But, no, she guessed she would pass this time. It would be much safer for the fluffy dog; whether or not it could eat pancakes.

Claire smiled, imagining Brownies running around with a slice of pancake in its mouth. The light which floated throughout the curtains inside the house illuminated her figure as she came near to the main and only door. It was exactly the time when she and Jack usually had their dinner. Pancakes might not be that much to fill their stomachs, and she had thought of making another for the second round (she actually groaned to her own pun). Or, well, she could make chicken soups; basically, anything warm. Oh, and those shawls. She should finish them ASAP. Sure, she and Jack would buy thicker clothes when it came near to winter; they had decided it beforehand that they would save some expenses by wearing available clothes during autumn. Clothes these days were so high in price, and if they wanted to get a good one, they really should prepare some gold in their, or actually, Jack's account. Not only for the clothes, but also for matching gloves and boots, and maybe two pairs of earmuffs. The thought of the farm's dearly dog came into her mind again, for then she planned to buy also for it. A coat and small earmuffs would do. But, wouldn't that meant that she would have to buy for the horse, the cows and sheeps also, no? Had no experience of staying up late inside the barn, she couldn't figure the temperature there. If only animals could talk, it would be much easier for her to ask whether they need warm clothes too. _Rather, that would be a bit scary,_ so she thought.

She grasped the handle of the wooden door and opened it. "I'm home," she exclaimed, trying not to sound very relieved for Jack would definitely tease her, saying that she was afraid of dark, which was actually true. She gazed around the main room, studied it carefully for some seconds, and found that no one was there. Not even Brownies. She thought that maybe the young man still had not come back from his mining, or anything he had been doing before. Claire shrugged and headed to the kitchen and was about to put the lunchbox on the table when she saw the door which lead to their rooms. Could he had been sleeping? If so, she would be very pleased to shock him by putting the warm lunchbox on his cheek, and she would get to see his yet but another hilarious face. So she walked quietly toward the door, holding the white warm box in one hand, and turned the knob carefully with the other hand. She peeped, and opened it a bit wider.

The lunchbox fell with a thud, pancakes scattered everywhere.

Jack was curling on the floor, his one hand held the wooden flooring as if to trail his own body towards the door. Another hand was clutching his left chest, fingers jabbed as if to take one's heart. His mouth opened and closed meaninglessly, eyes nearly closed even though he knew it could not help him endure his agony. His lungs were screaming out for oxygen, something which refused to flow into him. He gritted his teeth, fighting his own fate though it seemed to be a useless effort he had done. He felt his body was turned aside, and a blur image came to his eyes. His mind had almost stopped working at that time, and he could barely hear anything although the figure looked like she was screaming something. He could not hear a thing. With the remaining energy he had, he moved his lips as if parts of his spirit slipped out whenever he tried to open his mouth.

"…c… call… so..me… one…" he said, or he thought he said, for voices could no longer reach his ears.

Claire stood up and sprang out in an excessive speed; fear whipped her to run faster and faster. In some seconds, she got to another twenty-something meters from Saibara's workplace, and saw a capped young man seemingly quarrelling with a familiar dog in front of the door. Brownies. She didn't care to listen to what it was all about, but she noticed Brownies was biting the person's end of trousers, feet moving as if to move the young man toward a place. And it wouldn't stop. So did Claire.

"H-hey! Stop it! What are you doing!" Gray exclaimed, trying to get the dog off him. Brownies growled and put more strength into its paws, pulling as hard as it could. Gray saw Claire's coming and was stunned when she ran closer.

"Get your car! Quick!" Claire yelled. She could feel hints of tears welling up in her eyes, and yelled again desperately. "Jack is dying!"

Gray could feel his trousers being released from the bite, and it was true. The dog was then running circling its place, whining and barking. Claire yelled again from afar. The information came like a shot into Gray's head, and he directly banged the door, took his grandfather's pick-up car key, turn the engine on, and drove to the farm. Claire snatched her dog and jumped to the empty space on the back of the car. She caressed Brownies as the little dog whined along the way, which she wished she could too, but something kept her from doing so.

When they arrived, they quickly jumped out and off of the car and ran to where Jack was. But when they got there, the farmer had stopped moving.

-x:o:x-

'_Claire…'_

Upon hearing the voice, Claire opened her eyes swiftly. World around her was blank white; beneath her feet was nothing but yet the same emptiness. She needed no action of finding the source of the voice, for the person came to her vision as if the floor, or wherever they stood on, rotated and brought him closer. It was Jack indeed, and the fact that he was brought joy to Claire's face. It seemed that the gravitation around Claire acted somehow harder and thus pulled him closer.

'…_me, Claire,' _he said, his voice echoed. He was getting closer, but she could still not hear him well. She moved his lips and asked, only that her voice didn't came out. She tried again, and it came out with the same result. Oh dear, how that feeling was very unpleasing for her. Jack's voice echoed again, and as he got closer, his voice gradually reached her.

'_You… me, Claire…' _he said, and his body stopped just a meter away from her. The blonde girl lip-speaking for her voice hadn't come back, asking something even unclear to her own mind. The man's dark ocher eyes looked at her, seemingly tired.

Drops of liquid splattered out to Claire's face, for a moment averted her attention. It was warm, and had a certain scent which stung her. And it was crimson red.

'_You killed me, Claire…'_ said the young man again, his voice croaked. Blood came down rolling from his head, crossing his eyes and cheeks. It flowed out continuously like a river, and when it reached the end, blotted on the white transparent floor beneath their feet. Another flowed out from the edge of his mouth, then nostrils, and eyes. All of a sudden it all sprayed out throughout every single pores of his body as he screamed in agony. He screamed again holding his head as the acid-smelled liquid kept spraying out, forming a river of blood around them.

She forced her eyes opened, gasping. For a moment there, she thought her heart did jump rather than beat. Flashes of the dream she had just seen appeared again and panicked her, thus made her quickly straightened her back and searched across the room. There, on a bed, lied a young man she had known for almost a year now. The sounds of beeping from the machine above him slightly relieved her.

Letting out a breath, she leaned back on the chair. _What kind of dream was that_, she grunted in her mind, and looked throughout the window to the faded moon which delivered its faint light across the layers of air and did lend a hand in brightening the room even for a bit. Musing about what had happened the last hours, she could not help but to stare blankly at the second sun of the night. She could remember well the time the village's doctor came out from a certain room, seemingly as relieved as Claire and Gray, the young man which turned out to be a lot more than dependable when Claire was desperate, who had found his inner strength as he carried Jack on his back to the empty seat in the car like an ant carrying its dandelion seed, who drove them to the clinic with a speed Claire had never experience before; when Dr. Trent said what he must said after the heartrending minutes which seemed like ages for them. That Jack was alive.

She heard a small groan, and thus made her looked at the direction of the bed across the room. Her opal blue eyes did their best to see through the darkness, and she supposed they made it, since she could then see the young man turning his head aside slowly. Apparently, he was trying his best to speak of a word, or rather, a name out. "Claire," he called out.

The blonde girl stood and pulled her chair closer to the bed, being very much careful not to make worthless noise for it was still in midnight. When she thought she had found a comfy place for the chair, her feet refused to let her sit so she stood still and watched the young man's face and replied, "I'm here, Jack."

Jack turned his head to Claire's direction in a weak notion, his eyes closed still. "I… can't see you…" he said.

A thin smile played about her lips before she answered, "Of course, silly. Your eyes are closed."

Jack didn't reply, instead he faced the ceiling and stayed silent, which made the girl thought that he was half asleep after all, and that might be true. "This room _stinks_…" he whispered.

What he meant must have been the smell of disinfectants; that one Claire had noticed when she first came inside the private room for certain patients to accompany Jack. Knowing how Jack disliked anything in relation with ailments, it wasn't any of surprise if he commented like that. Claire didn't want to see how Jack would react when he knew he had a needle stuck on his arm, a big one to add that, some sticky round shaped silicon—connected to a certain machine aside of his bed—which had been set on his chest and nearby areas, which made him looked even terrible than he might have been.

"Has Zack," he paused, "come to deliver our mixer?"

"No, Jack, he hasn't," Claire replied gently, somehow her chest felt hurt as she heard Jack spoke his each words. But she managed a smile, even though she knew Jack couldn't see it, and added, "Why, do you plan to use it soon?"

The young man hummed and turned his head to the other side. It took him some seconds before he finally answered, "I like juices…"

"I don't think that mixer is the right tool to make juices, but…" Claire snorted hearing how Jack answered almost randomly to her questions. "Alright, what kind of juice do you want? I'll try to make it once we get the mixer. How's that?"

And then nothing filled the room except silence, but she awaited still. As the needle ticked forward, and as she knew that no answer would come out from him, her mind went blank.

Claire felt a sudden anxiety and sadness she thought she had managed to swept away for it had been hours since she was told that Jack was okay. _No, he's not okay_, so what went in her mind, and the edges of her pursed lips were pulled downwards. How could he be, he just had a heart-attack. And the fact that Dr. Trent's diagnose had said that it should had not been the first completely had her lost her words. She couldn't help but to let the thought burdened her heart and started sniffing as drops of water danced about her eyes. The beeping sound just beside the bed calmed her a bit, it made her remember that there was no such death that she should mourn about; not yet. So she dabbed her eyes and started thinking of what things she should do once the dusk came. She sat, finally, and leaned on the bed, listing every single thing she should worry about, and after some minutes, she fell to her sleep again.

-x:o:x-

Elli woke up early that day and directly went downstairs to prepare simple breakfasts, planned to check their new patient afterwards. The air was still breezing for it was still dark in the morning, but the short-haired woman found it rather pleasing. Just when she could see the end of the stairs, a figure stood there, seemingly waiting for someone who was very possibly her. She greeted the person in a soft voice, "Good morning, Claire. Is something the matter?"

The night before, doctor had allowed the blonde girl to stay a night at the clinic for she seemed very worried about her usual companion. Gray, on the other side, left soon as he heard that Claire would stay there that night, saying that he would spare some of his time to visit Jack, and maybe also to help Claire with her farm; predicting the worst that Jack would have to stay more than a night there.

"Yes, I guess I'll go back to the farm now." The blonde smiled, and waited for her friend to came down first. She saw Elli gave her a weary smile and followed her as she took a bunch of keys and headed to the main door. "Won't you stay at least for breakfast? I'm sure doctor won't mind," Elli said, turning her back to see the blonde clearly, locking her deep brown gaze to the opal blue. Smiling, she knew in her mind that Claire would most definitely return her favor; but she wanted to try still. Not everyday could she meet Claire, thus made her wanted the blonde to stay longer for some light chats with chamomile or hot chocolate, which she knew Claire would love.

As what had she expected, the blonde shook before refusing politely, stating her reason, "Thanks, but I don't want to trouble you more than this. And I've prepared everything for today's breakfast, too. Won't taste that good if they were to serve for lunch, if you know what I mean."

Elli hummed, and continued her way to let the girl do her latter activities, by turning the key counter-clockwise. And the spirits of the morning came rushing, tickling their opened parts of skin, sending a small shiver to their necks.

What lies beyond the wooden thin square thing was the usual but quiet world. Circles of lights stood calmly, making rows of light holder which seemed to be guarding and watching the silent road along the night, loyally. Apparently, the stars had ceased for their time would shortly be gone, being replaced by the mighty sun of the day in some more turning on the bed. Nothing fancy greeted the blonde as she stepped once out from the building, and turned back to say a little goodbye to Elli.

"Please watch him when I'm not around," Claire said, giggling to her own pun she was about to say. "He might drop his glass this morning; he always does, anyway."

Elli giggled and replied, "Sure I will. Oh, we will take care of him, don't worry. Please do your best, Claire. If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to ask, okay?"

Claire nodded and waved. Turning, she admired herself who could walk almost relaxed like what she usually does in daytime, regardless her fear of dark places and such, and couldn't help but to think that she had adapted most well to her circumstance. She gazed at the trees which were painted black, as if trying to match themselves with the blue indigo sky which slept still. No one but her on the single road, she knew, but she no longer felt the need to rush. Drifted in the solitude, she opened her smooth lips and sang softly a certain song Popuri had taught her when they were at the church. A nice song, indeed it was, and she liked the soothing melodies as much as she liked how the young girl played the music notes on piano. She smiled to herself, preparing her mind for the coming works.

Some hours later.

Although the night had gave her a quite nice sleep after the first waking of the nightmare, it seemed that the dried sweats plus the breezing air did give quite the opposite effect on her. Noticing how her eyes could hardly open as wide as how they usually do, she slapped her two cheeks as hard as she could, later mumbling for she might had overdid it, feeling the sections below her eyes hot and stinging.

She gazed at the only clock in the room, which sat on a shelf just near the television, and cheered in mind for she was able to finish the morning task quite fast alone. Forty minutes longer than the usual days, but in that time she had managed to do even Jack's usual portion. Well, true that she was in a bit rush for she was worried she wouldn't make it until sunrise. But apparently she could, and just as she finished preparing her breakfast, the farm's only rooster croaked the morning out in a way anyone would think that it was an angry god who did shout.

Claire sat, facing the pale colored television, did her best to absorb all the news onto her head while eating whatever it was on the plate, in some chances thinking of what would be the wisest way to spend another portion of the breakfast. Clinic must have prepared something for Jack; townspeople must have, too. _Brownies_. Claire stopped munching as that one name popped out. She could try. She didn't know whether the dog would love it, but well, she could try.

Water poured, running on her delicate fingers, down to the shining grey beneath after separating its way into big droplets. She put the plates carefully to a white rack beside the washing table before turning the water tap closed. After drying her hands with a certain towel, she headed directly to her room (in a glance checked the floor in front of there door where she had dropped the pancakes the previous night; which had been left in a mess with ants and all before she cleaned it as she got back from the clinic just before) and took a single hair band out from her drawer. Usually she would wait until the time she feels rather hot, but this time she directly tied her long hair with it, making a neat ponytail just behind her head.

Looking out through her window, she could see the sky was already bright, and some birds were chirping, sometimes hopping, under the apple tree. She pushed the window frame up a little, letting the air came in and out thru the small rectangular gap, hoping that it would bring yet but different scent and breeze into the room.

Done preparing her things, she reached the door knob, had a pause before actually turning it opened, realizing that it was the first time she ever starts the day alone. Even small little things like that could affect her mind much; that was another thing which she realized that very moment. She let out a small breath before finally turned it opened, and stepped her feet on the little terrace which connects her to the farm.

"Miss Claire,"

That very second, Claire curled her eyebrows upon hearing the voice. She gazed around and found no one was there, although she was sure her ears weren't playing trick on her. Her eyes blinked a few times in confuse.

"Miss Claire," said the voice again, this time it sounded nervous, "um, down here, please."

Even though she knew it would be rather a bit ridiculous, but she did it anyway. Nothing went on her mind when she spontaneously faced whatever it would be _down_ there. Some faces were there, looking up to her with hints of nervousness and a slight fear within, very little ones which made her mind thought those were someone's puppets which were left moments ago. What surprised her later was that they turned their face to each other, giving relieved smiles, before facing her again and said, "Good day, budum."

Claire's mouth was left opened for two seconds there.

Later she realized that those small people wore different colored clothes and hats dispute the same design and all. And _same faces_ on top of that. If anyone were to measure them, they would find that these small people would not stand more than forty centimeters, and they would start thinking to step carefully so they won't accidentally kicked or, well, literally stepped on them.

"We are here to offer you our help, budum," said the one which wore all-red outfits, who stood at the most front, who seemed to be the one who talked since the very beginning.

Claire managed to free her voice out, "W, what help?"

"Farming, of course," he said, seemingly very proud of it. Come to think of it again, he looked rather cute to her. "If you want, we can also do jobs with the ranch, though, budum."

"B, but, why… and who… how did you…" The sentences shattered into pieces and stumbled together for there were lots in her mind who couldn't seem to wait for their queue.

The small red one smiled, and turned to his fellows. Then they stepped to different directions, forming a row which reminded Claire of a spray of rainbow for their colorful clothes; they did a quick bow and the one with red clothes smiled. "We are harvest sprites, budum. Usually we want no contact from humans, but this time is an exception, budum," he explained lightly as if he was telling her that the clouds are white. His narrow eyes looked at Claire's, seemingly very confident. "The name's chef."

Then he bowed again, politely. The orange one continued by mentioning his name, before he bowed once. Later it was the yellow one, and so on until it reached the last one who stood in the end of the row. Claire studied them one by one, finding no difference more than the colors of their clothes and slight different sparks of feeling on their faces; some of them looked rather reluctant while the others seemed to have no problem with what they were doing.

"Miss Claire, surely you know a person named Jack, do you not?" asked the one whom Claire recalled being named Chef. But hearing the name, she was like being awaken from her daydream. She quickly nodded, and her curiosity grew even more. Chef started again, "The birds told us he is sick, are those news true?"

And for a moment there, Claire thought she saw wrinkles of anxiety on his face. This time, she was able to answer softly, "Well, yes. He's being hospitalized…"

There were low chattering and sympathy sighs came out from their mouths. The one with a vivid blue colored clothes spoke up, "Jack is a friend of ours, budum… So we were worried, budum…"

_What?_

"He often speaks of you, so we knew directly that you are you, miss Claire," said the one with darker blue clothing. "We also know that the two of you usually work together, budum."

Chef nodded, finally stating the main reason of their sudden arrival. "Now that Jack is not here, we figured that you'll be overwhelmed, budum. So we decided to come here and help you, budum. Anyhow, we've promised that we will do our best to help Jack, budum."

"He refused, though," the yellow one added in a low voice, seemingly disappointed.

"He's always like that, budum. He's nice, budum," said the green one.

Claire had been turning her head from one sprite to another as they spoke their sentences, then finally she stopped after realizing that she might look funny for doing that.

"So, miss Claire," Chef said again, smiling. "Do you mind if we work with you for the time being, budum?"

"We will do our best, budum!" exclaimed the orange one happily.

The girl looked at them one to another, surprised.

-x:o:x-

Jack yawned as wide as he could, for he knew that no one would see him in that room of solitary. Some hours had passed since he had woken up that morning, and nothing entertaining had happened ever since. What worst, he had nothing to do; while he knew that there must be lots of it in his farm. Elli had gave some magazines and that day's newspaper for him to read, just to kill some time, but unfortunately and utterly, he had to say that he would prefer brushing Claes instead (though the fact was that he was interested in reading the papers; for they included news from abroad and out of the town).

"I'm bored…" Jack muttered unconsciously, later on sighed. Finding no other worthy activity he could do there in the room with almost nothing but a bed, two wooden chairs and a single table, his hands finally reached for the newspaper and looked for some crosswords somewhere in one of those stuffed pages. But as his mind reminded of something, he put the papers down and gazed to a table beside him. Nothing was there except a machine which was set on him just some hours ago; for some reasons Elli didn't clean that up. He supposed that Dr. Trent must had asked her to do so, for the quiet man must had figured that sometime, when the bad comes, they would need to set those on Jack's chest again. There would be no way Elli would intentionally do things like that without the doctor's order, anyway; not in cases like this. She was one who'd consider others' opinion, was what went in Jack's mind.

Back from his musing, the young man couldn't find anything he could use to mark his answers. He had predicted it, beforehand, but he wanted to check still. He pursed his lips and started searching for the crosswords again. Something was lit up in his head as the idea popped out; he thought that memorizing the answers would be, at least, a slight more entertaining and challenging to him. Too bad he could memorize things clear; that would get in the way, wouldn't it?

He saw the page he was looking for and directly read the first question.

Some silent moments passed, he didn't realize.

Finally upon a sound of the door's handle being pulled, which actually had shocked him a bit, he averted his gaze quickly to the source of the sound and saw no other but a familiar figure. That person peeked her head out, making her long pony tailed hair swayed to a side. Her lips made a happy curve as she saw him and moved to greet, "What are you doing?"

"Hey, Claire," Jack greeted back, glad to have a living thing to talk with, finally. He directly put down the papers. "Just some crosswords. Come in."

Claire giggled, for she had intended to come in without needing Jack to excuse her. Closing the door behind her, she walked and pulled a chair, then sat on it. She didn't need more time to notice that the big needle which was stuck into Jack's right arm had been removed, as well as the round-shaped silicon which was set on him before. That was one good thing to see.

Meanwhile, Jack saw her unusual hairstyle but decided not to point about it; he had learned not to comment much on her appearance, for he knew that a simple thing that he said could bring a quite big impact. No one could tell whether she did that hairstyle on purpose or simply just forgot to take it off, since usually she only put that on when she began to sweat much for the outdoor works. Jack studied the girl once again, and when he finished, he blurted out, "No fruits?"

The blonde girl blinked, at first of confuse, and then turned to surprised. She made a round gap with her mouth, and shortly after released a small chuckle. So she had forgotten about it, it seemed. Jack teasingly narrowed his eyes, looking at her with a bored look.

"Oh, hey, but I bring something!" She quickly passed her bag to her lap and opened it, her hand searched for a while before taking out two white envelopes. She showed him those, while voicing a suitable sound effect (she had just learned after watching a certain program on their television). Just as she had expected, the young man's face glowed and he opened his mouth in a way. "A reply, huh? Great," he said, and took the one which Claire handed him, the one which had his name written on it, and eagerly opened it.

Those were letters from Kai: a seller, a stand owner (of which stand opens only during summer) at Mineral Town's beach, and also a friend, who had left the town since autumn began. Just some days after his leaving, came to them a letter wrapped inside a white envelope, which apparently was sent by him during his stay on a certain town. In that first letter, there was not much of the writings, telling only how that certain town reminded him a little of his hometown, glimpses of his activities, and also a kind of instruction of how they should reply to his letter. The three of them had already known that he would move from one town to another after a period of time, thus made sending reply a bit complicated. There, in that first letter he wrote, he listed the dates of his moving and to whence, also about the approximate time needed till their letters reached the place, so they could predict themselves of when they should send their letters.

And, after that day, they started exchanging letters. But since both Jack and Claire wrote different letters, Kai had no other option than to make two replies. That was why the replies which came to the two youngsters always been quite thick for it was actually two letters being packed in one envelope. They remembered Kai had wrote in his first replies that it was quite troublesome and tiring to wrote two letters, but he knew that he himself had different things to tell them, so he did it anyway.

"How is the farm today?" Jack asked when Claire had finished reading her letter. The girl looked at him and nodded, smiling, "So far it's doing well. Alpha is getting bigger, _and_ lazier, too. She hardly will move from her spot unless I push her. Literally."

Jack shrugged hearing that news of their new cow, and chuckled. "There's no way a cow could get bigger in one day. You're funny."

Hearing his comment, Claire poked Jack's arm playfully before joining his laugh. Then she quickly turned to the door, wondering if someone would came in to tell them to be quiet, as she remembered that they were in a clinic. There were only two-three patients' rooms in that building, for its purpose wasn't to take care of fatal diseases; patients with such ailments were to be sent to a bigger town which had more complete and modern equipments. There were hardly another person who stayed in one of those rooms; Jack wasn't included, of course, but Claire knew that it was still a place where people needed that silence.

Claire started reading his horoscope readings from a magazine, and Jack just watched her in silent. Something burdened him, as he knew well that he had something he could never tell her about. Secretly, he looked down to his palm hands, regretting the fact that he had kept. He let out a thin breath, before raising his face in order to see her clearly, and said, "It seems that I can't go home soon, Claire."

The girl stopped and looked at him instead. He had this weary smile on his face, seemingly hated to say the previous simple sentence. "I'm sorry," he said, after some seconds pause.

It wasn't like she hadn't predicted that this would happen. She did, truthfully. Hearing it herself from the person indeed saddened her, though she knew that he must had wanted to go back as well. It reminded her of her need to ask some things about his illness, but she held it inside. Getting Jack to say it wouldn't ease her, she knew, for Jack was such person who would keep everything with him. That was one thing she would rather call 'selfish', but that was one of his good traits also.

"I will be fine," Claire smiled, trying to look as strong as she could, trying to ensure the young man that she wouldn't mind Jack being there as long as he got to get any medical treatment he needed. "Besides, I am not alone."

She still hadn't told him about the coming of those harvest sprites this morning, for Chef had said that he would tell Jack his own. Those little fellows, whom Claire thought existed only in a book she had read some months ago at the library, really did their jobs well. And they worked hard, too; that she could tell after seeing them carrying the fruits which seemed to be heavy for their size. They were indeed very much helpful. She thought that she should give them something as a return.

But that would be another problem. Right now they just needed to focus on Jack's recovery and that would be all.

Jack didn't respond at first, but after some moments he finally smiled a little bit more lighter. "That's good. Glad to hear that," he said. "I'm just worried about one more thing…"

"What is that?" Claire asked softly. The young man then grinned.

"Oh, nothing. I'm just worried that you might grow bigger muscle than me," he said, and burst out into a laugh, while Claire's face bashfully turned red as she stood up and protested in such a manner which people would certainly laugh seeing her. And just some seconds after, someone did really open the door to ask them to keep their voices down. They did, for some seconds, and continued but in a lower voice after.

-x:o:x-

_To be continued._

_Next on Two Lives:_

"_What do you mean?" His dark eyes were locked. Never has anyone sees or hear him speak with that manner. It's something just new, but not for this young man; he has actually predicted it._

"_I kind of know a way to cure Jack, though…" May said, thinking at the same time, seemingly rather unsure about her idea._

_Claire has gotten used to the daily life in the farm without Jack, and the harvest sprites whose names she managed to remember do give her a big support. Just when she feels she already forgotten about some certain things, someone else seems to notice the same and thus reminding her. There is. There is something wrong going on her world. _

"_Two Lives Record 10: Paradox". Read and review, please!_

-x:o:x-

Harvest N.G.

"Miss Claire," said the voice again, this time it sounded nervous, "um, down here, please."

Even though she knew it would be rather a bit ridiculous, but she did it anyway. Nothing went on her mind when she spontaneously faced whatever it would be _down_ there. Some faces were there, looking up to her. And those small persons actually had white beards and chubby cheeks, and they looked _old_. Very old, to add.

Claire's mouth was left opened for two seconds there.

"We are dwarves, you see," said the one who then introduced himself as Doc. "We are here to meet Snow White. We heard that he is sick?"

Another dwarf who had been crumpling his forehead all this time, who later known as Grumpy poked Doc harshly, protested, "Silly! The name's not Snow White, but Jack White! See the signboard there? It's written clearly: Jack's farm!"

"Hmm. That's weird. I never know that Prince has a farm," Doc said, thinking. Another dwarf clapped his hands and shouted, "Yeah! The only one who has a farm is only that old McDonald, right?"

Claire's mouth was still left opened while two of the dwarves started singing 'Old McDonald Had a Farm'.

_End of N.G._


	10. Record 10

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon series.

**Harvest Moon~Two Lives**

**Record 10: Paradox**

The young man swept the drops of sweats from his forehead with his sleeves, and grinned meaninglessly to a feeder kit which hung quietly right in front of his face. He then put his hands on his hips, and smiled, this time more enjoyable it seemed. "This should do just fine," he said, and looked around. "Anything else?"

Shaking her head, the golden hair of the maiden dangled, seemed like shining strings, as the sunlight that crept from a ventilation window located some meters from the ground sprayed its rays on. Her blue eyes sparkled even more, for a second dazzled the young man enough to make him silent. But as he remembered of a certain figure that had been occupying his mind for a long time now, he blinked and widened his eyes as if being awoken from a dream, and chuckled nervously.

"Thanks for delivering the chicken foods, Rick. I think I can handle the rest," Claire, the blonde girl, mentioned. The young man of whose name had been said, shrugged before joining the girl onto walking out of the chicken wooden house. They chatted along with their steps, about little things such as how his sister, Popuri, got mad at him for throwing away a cup of pudding of her portion. He then stated that the mentioned pudding had been laid carelessly inside the fridge for days, he thought that it wouldn't be that good anymore; probably even out of its date. So he had consequently bought the exact brand and flavor one, and given it to his dear sister. She still grumbled, so he said, but he had told her to be careful and aware of the date the next time. That, of course, only brought him another grouses.

Claire stepped ahead and opened the door, letting the young man out first, and joined after. But as Rick could see the fields that stretched wide in front of him, he thought he caught movements from the rows of violet colored eggplants. He was sure, thus curling his eyebrows and walked toward the crops, while the girl chased him. Bending his body frontward, he searched through the leaves and fat vegetables. But he found nothing except the wet soil.

"Did you see it?" Rick asked, noticing that the girl he was with was looking anxiously at their surroundings before realizing Rick's question. She nervously shook and laughed, mentioning that it might have been mere imagination, what he had seen. As if voicing the same argue, a bark came out with a fluffy brown figure, which was approaching them with its tongue stuck out: Brownies. Upon seeing the farm's dog, Rick chuckled and petted it. "It was you, huh? I was exaggerating things, then," he said, tickling the dog. After a few rounds of tickling and petting things, he stood up and said his good-bye to Claire. She waved and watched as the young man disappeared at the intersection, and sighed in relief.

"That was close, budum," said Nappy, chuckling nervously, while Aqua, who stood next to him was still grumbling of how hard it had been to pull the sleeping Nappy before the red-head young man saw them. Claire winked at Brownies and raised a thumb. The little dog barked happily in reply.

It was another day within autumn, another day in which air was somewhat cool with a slight touch of dryness, and everything seemed like dyed in hazy silver color with sprays of fragrant yellow and red. While the sun seemed to be quite lazy to share its light the recent days, apparently and fortunately, it wasn't the same with those who had been swimming within the cool air.

Claire held her blushing cheeks for having thought of those lines above in her mind. Never knew that she had had a poetic soul, she later on thought that maybe it had been the effect for having watched a new drama serial on television from the beginning till the very end of the soap._ It's only once per week_, so she said in her mind, trying to deny the fact that she had loyally waited for its day, Tuesday, to come.

She answered a few questions from some certain Harvest Sprites related with their jobs, and instructed of what was best to do. The bright colored clothed sprites then departed to their fields. Claire herself took again her own watering can and joined other sprites on a class of green peppers; watering them at the same time did a quick check on the crops. The truth was that she didn't need to do that anymore, for the sprites had done that before. All that left for her to do was to water some sections they sometimes missed, and clean the field from wild weeds that sometimes grew amongst or near the crops. But she liked it, working with people, that was. Although according to what she had acknowledged she was sure she couldn't address the Harvest Sprites as people, she still thought of them as so. And just like what she had thought before, with those poetic words that even surprised her, she felt excited every day and never was there a day where she complaint about having to work. It wasn't like she ever complaint during the days with Jack, though. Just the feeling that everyone was doing his or her best kept her spirit up.

A small hand pulled her jeans. It was Chef. "It's almost lunch time, budum," he said, and Claire directly knew what he meant. She nodded and got into the house after putting back her watering can under the shade of a tree. Some moments after, she came out with a small basket of ripe apples swinging as she walked and waved at the sprites. Her clothes had been changed to those of cleaner ones, and her face had been washed; noted that although it was her will to cleanse her body before going to any public places, she would usually has not that much time to do so. Thus, she would pour a small amount of soft-fragrant perfume on her clothes. She was glad that Lillia had given it as her birthday present the last summer. She liked the scent: fresh and cool.

_My birthday_, those two words lingered in her mind, it made her stomach felt funny as if butterflies were dancing inside; she giggled as the memories came back to her. Since she couldn't remember her birthday, she and Jack had then set a date to celebrate her birthday; and that had been a week before summer ends. At that day when they had decided to set a date for her birthday, Jack joked that there should be a day for birthday; without it, she would never grow older, so he had said. And the present from him had been a day off; he had said that Claire should go around the town to collect her presents. And he had been right; Claire did get some from the villagers. And when she got home that day, the young man she had taken as her family in her mind had prepared a birthday cake with candles on it.

'_Ja, Jack! We don't do things like this anymore!' She said, flattered, but hiding the truth that she was feeling joyful._

'_Come on, it's just a cake,' Jack replied, his cheeks were somewhat glowing red for an instance, 'besides, my friends did this too, to me. Someone threw it onto my face afterwards, though.'_

_Claire laughed, she could imagine the young man's face covered in white creams and parts of the cake; she had seen how his face bathed in tomato flesh, anyway._

Through the layers of cool air, two small figures turned and waved at the blonde girl, who then did the same to them. Her feet shifted its movements into a small run to effective the time she got, either way just being as excited as the kids. She greeted the smiling Priest Carter who stood not so far from them, and walked with the children following the main street leading to the heart of the small town. May and Stu; Claire could notice that even though they dressed like usual, their feet were clean; no hints of mud from all of the playing things. She figured that Carter must had had asked them to wash it beforehand, for he must had know that they were about to leave to the clinic.

Some moments later.

"Wow," Jack said, examining the colorful shapes and lines on a sheet of paper that he was holding. "A strong-looking gorilla."

But Stu directly snatched it from his hand and protested while pointing at the gorilla or whatever or whoever it was supposedly meant with his small finger. "That's not a gorilla! I tried to draw yourself in a macho version!"

As his words absorbed in Jack's mind, the young man's eyebrows then twitched before returning into a more careful look at the drawing, trying to grasp any of his physical trait from the being drawn there, and nodded as if he understood although the fact was that he failed.

Claire just snorted seeing Jack tried to get his pardon; her hands working still on knitting a red shawl she had brought along. May, on the other hand, was reading a picture book about animals with her feet swinging quietly. Stacked on her left side were some other picture books with different titles. She had brought it along; those old books that had been told as her mother's when her mother was little. Upon finding an interesting picture, the little girl would lean closer to Claire and showed it to her. This time was a picture of a horse, which looked a lot like Claes, the farm's little horse.

May pulled back and leaned again on her chair, carefully opening the next page, keeping the pages smooth and clean. Her mind went from one thing to another, and then to another thing, until she found herself looking at Jack who was making fun of his face and Stu who was laughing hard just beside the bed. She looked again at the book sitting on her lap, before turning to face Claire clearly, and asked with a soft voice, "Why is Jack here? Is his illness that bad?"

The teenage girl stopped at that one question, and seemed to be thinking for a while. "Well, it doesn't always mean like that, to stay in a hospital or clinic. I think everyone's doing the best they can, and he was kept here so he can get whatever treatment he may need as he needs it."

May looked downwards, and Claire assumed that either she was processing, or her mind wouldn't accept what she just said. The thing was that Claire wouldn't be that unbelieving, actually, if May were not putting her words in her mind; for she, too, felt that something was a bit strange about Jack. Though Dr. Trent had said that he needed to give more attention to Jack's case, that was all; he didn't explain more about Jack's illness beside him having a heart attack.

"But," May moved her lips again, eyes still looking blankly at the book. "Jack has been healthy all this time…"

That little girl had a point, Claire knew. If May were some years older than she was now, maybe the blonde would not hesitate to talk about it more; about how she also felt that way, maybe Jack's daily activities and habits, just to try finding the root of his illness. But she wasn't, and Claire knew that it would be a bizarre to speak hard matters to the little girl. "I know," so she replied, and smiled wide to May. "Well, he's just a kind of person who'd push himself too hard when he put his mind into something. And things like this still can be fixed, so I guess we don't have to worry much. He'll be around the town again soon."

"Actually," May said, looking slightly upwards, as if some writings were floating there, just near the opened window. "I think I kind of know the way to cure Jack, though…"

Claire's eyes widened at this, her mouth almost hung open for she needed some milliseconds before she could react well. "May, are you sure?" she asked, a little bit of surprise still lingered in her tone; and leaned closer to the little girl. May nodded, although she looked rather unsure. She then put her index finger near her smooth lips, and stated that she herself doubted that what she would say would give that much effect on the farmer's health; her voice was getting softer and softer as she spoke. But Claire would hear anything. Be it turn into something important or not, she could decide it later.

May noticed Claire's eager look, and blinked a few times, murmuring her answer, "Popuri told me about it once, that there is a very effective medicine that can cure almost every illness… But, do you really want to know?"

Hearing the first sentence, Claire thought that it might have some connections with Popuri's father, who left years ago, so Manna said, to seek a rare flower in order to cure Lillia's weak body. No, it might even be the exact thing. But if she had to go for the flower, how long would it take until she gets it? Even if Jack knew, he would mostly forbid her; knowing just how it had been ages since the last time Lillia saw her husband. The trip must be hard, too, so she thought; a hint of doubt grew in her heart.

"Tell me about it." Whatever it would be, it wouldn't hurt just to know, Claire supposed.

May nodded slowly, and answered, "Kiss."

Claire blinked. "Wha-?"

"She told me that a kiss of one's most dearest person will cure any illness and pain," May explained bluntly, and looked at Claire, who currently dropped her shoulders as well as her head after hearing the answer. "Why is it, Claire? Is it wrong?"

"N, nothing… Ha ha…" Claire said, one of her eyebrows twitched a few times. For a second there she thought she would get to hear something more, well, helpful. To think about it again, that was pretty much like Popuri; that girl must have had said it with her usual dreamy yet sweet style. But either did she do it just to tease May or was she just expressing her thought, it was probably too much for a child like May. Just where did Popuri get acquaintance with that kind of thing, anyway?

Claire just scratched her cheek gently in her disbelief.

May's eyes were still looking at Claire's figure. After some quirky moments, she finally asked, "You don't want to do it?"

That question was pretty much like a shot to Claire, as she suddenly turned her head to face the little girl. "No, of course I won't! You see, May, although maybe—just maybe—that way may cure some people, I have to say that I completely doubt it will work on Jack. Maybe it's best to leave this matter to Doctor," she explained, and stopped as she noticed May's slightly disappointed look. "Not that I don't believe you, no! Er, I mean, Jack and I don't have that kind of relationship, so who knows what will happen to him if I were to, uh, to do it…"

"Well, want to give it a try, Claire?"

She stopped; her mouth was still making a slight gap for she hasn't completely finished her sentence, as that mild voice stole the whole attention in the room at once; including hers, of course.

Jack smiled lightly. Whether had he notice it or not, the two girls were looking at him with those blank expression drawn on their faces. May's was simply nothing but a confused one. She was just waiting for anyone's answer to Jack's question. Guessing that there would be none from the questioner himself, she then turned to see Stu, who was also just standing there; and thought that the boy might be thinking of the same thing like herself: about the awkward sudden silent which filled the room.

"What is it? Come here, I'll show you the way to do it right," said Jack again, for no answer was spoken; and as each words of him treaded freely in the air, before finally finding its place into Claire's ear—a quite quirky moment it was—the maiden felt her cheeks were risen, as well as the skin just down the border of her eyes, for some unknown reason. Yet inside she felt the mixings of urges to shout out a cry and a contrasting urge to hide her self someplace safe, again for the same friendly and familiar unknown reason she had. Though, finally, a part of the first urge slipped its way out and thus made her stand up in such way, that even May almost jumped when the lassie did.

"Y, you," Claire finally managed, while giving her best into looking at the man's ocher eyes, for her heart was beating so fast she was afraid it would last forever, somehow. "What are you, in front of these children, you… you…" yanked Claire with an awkward piece of anger and a slight spark of weird joy.

"Jack's unbelievably great in doing it, you know," Stu finally said cheerfully. Seemed that he and Jack had settled things about gorilla-something stuff down.

However, before her mind could release weird thoughts, her brain was given new information. From where Claire stood, she could see a shining, sharp but quite small knife, gripped loosely by Jack's right hand, and near of it were two apples of their farm. One of the love fruit was inside his palm, while some others sat neatly on one white plate just on the table beside the bed. Rabbits. White rabbits, with two red long ears, actually, were what seen by Claire, sitting on another plate.

_Oh, _so she thought dumbly_, so he was just peeling apples, eh?_

Claire laughed dryly at this.

"I guess she's not that interested in peeling it into rabbit shape, eh, Jack?" Stu asked, and Jack just shrugged innocently.

-x:o:x-

That man was closing his eyes. Breezing wind would sometimes slip itself inside through the thin rectangular gap the window made, making the papers that had been piled up on his desk fluttered softly. Sometimes cheerful voices from the room just across the corridor could be heard from his place, and it would remind him of that uneasy feeling before the storm; and he hated such. As a man of his profession, he wasn't allowed to make mistakes; he must do and decide things in the right order. Not a thing should bother his mind now that he had had taken the path which stumbles with many people's fate.

_It's not your mistake._

That one sentence kept bugging his mind ever since it was spoken. He had tried to look over from the start for who knows how many times now, but the result was the same. None.

It was probably two days ago when Elli told him that Jack wanted to meet him privately. He, too, actually had something to say to that man at that time; though just thinking about it destroyed part of his pride. His responsibility, it was, so he had had to.

Two days ago.

"You wanted to meet me here, Elli said," he said, closing the door behind him and walked to the empty spot in front of the bed. Sprays of warm yet sad orange light from the window lit the room quietly. If only he was alone and had more time, he'd probably look out to the same scenery; maybe reminiscing past events in his life. In the same room of solitary, Jack was sitting, nodded at his statement. Half part of his face was darker somehow.

"And I guess you, too, may have something to say to me as well, no?" Jack replied. A thin smile played on his lips. "Maybe, regarding the test result? Doctor Trent."

Trent just stared. He sensed something obnoxious that he decided he wouldn't move closer than that distance. But before he even started, Jack had first. That farmer started with a strange one. "You may not believe to what I'm going to say, but at least you should know. So listen well. This is something I will not repeat. Something I can't tell anyone."

"What are you talking about?" His dark eyes were locked. Never had anyone see or hear him spoke with that manner. It was something just new, but not for Jack; he had actually predicted it.

But he listened. Sometimes he'd jerk his head a bit, upon some unexpected sentences of Jack's. He listened it all. The needle kept ticking forward, and Jack kept saying everything he had to say all this time. Cold tiny sweat rolled a drop down to Trent's cheek. His mind was suddenly full of illogical thoughts he had never heard. Some of them were the ideas he had not been interested on in his past times until now. But Jack's words seemed to interact and connect each other so unexpectedly, that it awed Trent even for a bit.

Trent opened his mouth. A confounded smirk was there. "Don't kid me, Jack."

"I told you before, you see?" Jack laughed dryly. He then took enough breath to continue. There was not much left to say after that much explanation before, though. "That's why, you couldn't find anything. You're right; nothing's wrong with me. It's not your mistake."

"Are you talking about— No, I never mention anything about the test result before," Trent stated coldly. He didn't recognize that young farmer anymore. It was as if he was looking at an alien faking Jack. _What do old people address it again, _Trent questioned in his mind. _'Doppelganger', eh?_

The brown haired young man just smiled, but his eyes seemed so dark and deep; as if stating that he meant it with his words earlier. And maybe he did. Jack looked quite different from his usual self, though the doctor had never judge people merely from their looks, but he can't help but to think that the young farmer had given off somewhat a different aura. Or, maybe he was just exaggerating it. He hoped so.

"I need you to keep this as a secret from everyone until the right time comes," Jack said.

"Why should I?"

Jack chuckled. "That's doctor Trent for you. All right, then," he said, and smirked. "Cooperate with me, and I'll show you the unimagined thing."

Trent was stunned. As though reading right through Trent's mind, the farmer looked pretty much satisfied. His smirk was still there, his eyes were luminous with strange orange glow—the same color as the alerting sky.

"_How does 'interacting universes' sound for you, Doctor?"_

As the time went on, two days had passed since then, and became today. Trent didn't really agree nor disagree with the compromise Jack had given, as he remembered he left Jack's room not so long after that talk. For him, what the farmer had told him that day was probably nothing more but something illogic, and obviously it wasn't a subject which interest him much. On the other hand, he could send that farmer out from the clinic anytime; he could just give Jack some medicines to prevent another attack and let him work though with exceptions on some hard works. Yet, he didn't; and that wasn't because Jack had asked him to do so. He knew that he must have missed something; it was just he still didn't know exactly what it was. Besides, it would be easier for both of them. If there would be another attack; he could take care of it quick that way.

No, maybe that wasn't true. It wasn't like that at all.

It might or might not be his stubbornness, for he wouldn't let anything slipped his notice while letting people to know that he did. He just wanted to learn more, and to keep an eye on Jack. _Yes_, so he thought; he felt that he just needed some more time until he could comprehend everything into his sense. There was definitely something he missed about Jack's condition.

But Jack's earlier words still rang in Trent's head. He knew that what the farmer had told was no more than a theory, and that no one had ever succeeded in proving it, but he also knew that there were possibilities. Ever since he became a doctor, some of that feeling had faded, and left him with a tiny naivety. A feeling, a thought he used to have when he was still young: that sometimes, everything are possible.

"I start thinking nonsense," Trent mumbled as he massaged his own forehead gently.

The curtain not so far from where the dark-haired man sat rustled swiftly, before a head poked in excitedly. It was that girl from the farm, Claire. Her face had that faint reddish glow; which the doctor assumed she got after some long time of laughing with Jack and the two children. The building was pretty much silent that day, that he could clearly hear them laughing their heart out; something he didn't want as usual daily things, for he preferred peaceful day and necessary noises.

The doctor turned his head a bit, just enough to see the blonde while she stated her reason of poking her head in—it was to ask whether she could spend the night in the clinic, accompanying Jack. Such a foolish question, he thought, thus sighed upon that request, and rejected it with a single no. He carefully chose his next words, before mentioning that he didn't want to change the essential function of the clinic into a private house, and also the responsibility Claire had on the farm; since that way no one would look after the farm for the night. It was actually a bit amusing for him to see the change of expression of the girl, so he continued by mentioning things about robbers and stray dogs. The girl then blinked and made a buzzing noise softly. As what he had predicted, she then agreed and thanked him, then left back to Jack's room. And at that time, after some long hours, the doctor finally smiled.

"I knew I should have brought some puzzles," sighed May during their walk to each homes. It was sometime near their usual time to go home after playing at the church. As someone eldest, Claire naturally decided to walk them home. At the current time, firstly they headed for Stu's home since it was the nearest. The next day would be Wednesday, and Elli could have joined; but she had told Stu to go back first and not wait for her, since she still had something to take care of. Stu had insisted, of course, but finally he moved along, for he remembered his granny had been alone at home. It seemed to Claire that he and May had realized something after they visited Jack; which was probably, Claire assumed, about cherishing things and important people.

"Don't think much," Stu stated to May's sentence. "He couldn't be that bored. He laughed a lot, and besides, he ate that much apples, remember? I bet that he's sleeping right now, like a lazy hamster. Ha ha ha!"

May firstly had this sullen face, but then she giggled too.

The sun was setting as the three continued their walk. The road was not as crowded as when they first departed; just some villagers, all-tired looking but also sparks of cheerful looks at the same time. Claire recalled that there were some other farms and ranches, but Jack's and Yodel's were the biggest. Well, Yodel's ranch was indeed the best in quality amongst the others, yet Jack's farm was literally the biggest in size. With that size of field, just having a total of two people working in developing it, and it did go well, Claire guessed, could be said as something miraculous. Claire wasn't exaggerating it; for even herself had been wondering how they could do all those works all by themselves, and still had some spare time to kill. It should be something pleasing, so she stopped thinking further about it.

Anyhow, some of the other farm owners built their houses in the town, and that was why on their way, the three would met some owners just got back from all-day of working. Along the street, some stores had started to close their business for the day, though some were still keeping on. They passed by a handicraft shop and that reminded the blonde girl of her shawls. So that was why she felt rather incomplete; she had forgotten to bring those along. _Oh, well_, she thought. Either way, she could just drop by again to take those back home. She had figured that the next day wouldn't busy her much, that maybe she could finish knitting the shawls. Jack was always inside his room, so he would most likely be safe from the breezing wind, but not Claire. Even so, she thought she should finish Jack's as well; that way she'd have no more postponed activities.

"Bye-bye, Claire," May waved, while her dear grandfather just nodded politely behind her. Claire waved as a response, and walked back to the clinic. At this time of day, she figured she would have some time to buy flour for Chef and the others. Those little seven had helped her a lot since that day. She even dared to say that nowadays the work on the farm could finish some hours early than usual; she just hoped it wouldn't affect her mind to think that she could do everything to her own will. She didn't want to feel that she could _use_ them.

Claire passed by a big clock just near the town's square, and was relieved to see that she had some more time before the clinic closed that day. Her steps fastened, though; as she remembered that there was Elli who was going to go back early. Usually, the clinic still opens even after the working hour, which also meant that Claire really didn't have to run all the way to make it before the closing hour. She guessed she should let the doctor and his assistant had their holiday on time; she remembered Dr. Trent looked quite tired when she peeked into his room earlier.

Some minutes of walking, she finally arrived back at the front door of the white building, and opened it like usual. She gazed around, and no one was there. _Has she went home already_, asked her in her mind. Claire shrugged and proceeded toward Jack's room. She turned the knob and a gap opened. For a moment there, she could see both Dr. Trent and Elli was standing near Jack's bed. Dr. Trent stood very close to it; his hands seemed busy pushing something which Claire figured as Jack's chest. Elli then noticed the door was opened, and quickly went to the door.

"I'm sorry; could you please wait for a while, Claire?" so she asked in such a haste manner. "S, sure," Claire answered, and closed the door slowly.

She stared at the closed door for a moment, and then sat on a nearest chair. _What am I doing here, _she thought foolishly. Her mind then went blank again as she stared meaninglessly at the white-colored wall across the room. Everything seemed to look slow for her. Her breathings and even her blinks of eyes were slower than usual. But she didn't want to think of anything. She just wanted to wait. That was why she stayed silent, and closed all of her senses.

.

-x:o:x-

.

The girl slowly regained her consciousness. A pale white bed sheet image came to her vision, along with soft voices. Being at the border between her sleep and conscious mind, she found herself looking up from her crossing arms. A small ball of light floated in the air, and made static fluctuated motions. Up, down, up, and down, very slowly. Just near the light sat a familiar person. He spoke very softly that the girl could only hear it faintly.

"… myself… when it comes…"

There were replies; a voice smaller and softer than the person's, which ridiculously heard as if it came from the ball of light. The girl questioned in her mind, though her head wasn't fully ready to process anything. Her eyes were pretty heavy; a part of her still longed for that nice sleep she had. Probably she just had to close her eyes again for now, and let her body and mind took their rest good. As when she was about to do it, the ball of light floated higher, flew through the slightly opened window, and disappeared from her vision.

The familiar person stared at where the light went in silent. The girl had lost a part of her will to continue her slumber, and she just looked at that person. "Jack," she said, finally. That person turned at her in a careful motion.

At first, her mind was distracted by the moonlight that danced into the room, illuminating some things and thus made it easier for her to recognize them. And the same moonlight revealed half of Jack's face as he gave a thin curve on his lips. But he didn't say anything. Not a word; she thought she was still in her dream after all. "What was… that light…?" she asked softly.

The young man didn't respond; he stayed still in his gestures, like a single doll. Claire blinked slowly, and gazed out to the window, before returning to hear Jack's answer. But none was spoken. Or, so she thought.

"Fireflies."

Claire turned at that very sentence, to the person she had been with for almost a year by now. That person had this look on his face that anyone who saw it would be silenced at once. It wasn't a cheerful gesture or a sad one. Was not either a weak one, nor was it a strong one. For her, it was merely a plain look, with a plain faint smile, and a rather plain gesture. Though had she never know what made her eyes locked in his. "It's weird to have them in this season, right?" So he said again, and averted his look to the blanket that covered his lap, then to the slightly opened window, as if that was the best scenery he ever had.

Moments ticked with a dull voice, letting the maiden drifted back, deep into her memories; to the time not so long from the present second. She didn't count how long she had waited before. All she remembered was only that clicking sound and footsteps, then some simple explanations from the doctor who looked pretty much stressed and tired. It was more or less about what had happened some time after she had left to escort the children back home; she wasn't fully listening to him. Another one. This time, Jack's heart did stop for a while. Miraculously, he was saved. Again.

That girl now found herself looking at the same direction as Jack. In her life, the times she had spent in that small town was the only thing that wasn't foggy. She had opened her eyes firstly in despair and scare. She was alone, and what was left to be her first impression of waking up had been the relief for no longer suffocating within that dark and deep sea. She was relieved she wasn't hearing anymore of that wild storm anymore.

Even so, she was there; alone, without past. A name she had mentioned as hers came from her faint memory, too. All she could recall from that memory was only a few sentences; it was simply a 'what is your name' question, and a voice inside her head which answered it softly.

'_Claire.'_

That was how she was 'Claire'.

And, as 'Claire', she lived her days up until now. New experiences and images had been written in her mind since that time, and she gained a personality. Who was her, actually? She wouldn't call herself as something stupid—though what she was going to think about now might sound stupid for some people. But if she mused about it deeply, she would have no other choice but to question herself.

_If I regained my memory, I don't know if I would be able to continue my current life; I'd probably even be a completely different person_, was what she thought in silent.

Been very deep in her thought, she blinked in surprise when she heard her name being called. "Thinking something?" Jack asked; at that time Claire had forgotten the previous weird attitude of his. A shake came out as the answer, and she giggled nervously.

"Just something stupid and unimportant, why?"

Jack smirked. "No, I thought you slept with your eyes open. Too bad you didn't."

But the girl didn't have the chance to get Jack for his teases, for suddenly something tickled her nose and thus she sneezed. She then rubbed her cheeks, murmuring how the air had been quite cold lately, although winter should still be far. Hearing that, Jack pulled his blanket and was about to step down from the bed, to take some extra blanket for Claire. His actions caused him to be glared by Claire. So he stopped.

"What? I can still run if I want to," Jack stated; Claire just snorted. She then stood and walked to a certain cabinet, ignoring Jack's mumbling for treating him like an ill person. _Because you are, silly,_ Claire thought while opening the thin wooden door. Her hands reached for few stacks of clothes and checked; it was not easy for the room was dark, furthermore the shadow fell right on the spot where Claire was checking, but after a while, she dared to say that she found no other blanket in that room, except the one Jack was using. She put both hands on her hips, thought for a while, and then closed the door and walked back to her chair.

The fuzzy half-knitted red shawl swayed when the girl took it, and hung faithfully from her hands. Her fingers ran from one end to another, and raised her eyebrows, as she knew it wasn't long enough to cover her neck right. She put it back to its previous place, and looked around, wondering if she'd find something useful in that time of place. As much as she hoped there was one, it turned out to be none.

Meanwhile, the young man pulled his blanket and searched for the opposite end, and stretched it again, thus making the rectangular shaped cloth stretched longer. Or, it seemed to be longer, with it only covered up to Jack's thigh; but then it made it long enough to reach Claire's place. Jack smiled proudly, and point at the side of the striped thin cloth near the girl. But, as he realized something, he stopped grinning and blinked nervously. Definitely Claire did realize the same thing, for she then spontaneously giggled. That was one thing Jack probably forgot as he was too excited in finding way to warm Claire—that was that even though the blanket did reach her place, she wouldn't have place to lay instead of the chair she was sitting on, and that made Jack's blanket as well as his effort useless. Well, she could still use it, but to cover her head. She, and Jack, doubted that there were any of normal people put blanket on their head instead of the body.

Claire laughed after stating that one reason. Jack laughed too; aside of being embarrassed, he seemed to enjoy laughing over his mistake more. Claire then playfully took the half-knitted shawl and acted as though she was about to finish it in a time; which Jack laughed at for that instance.

The night turned out slips away as they decided to talk and make each other laugh for the whole time. As if being forgotten, the cold air they previously shivered from faded into a warm atmosphere, and even managed to make tiny drops of sweat around their cheeks and backs. Having not much of interesting stories, Jack just listened to the girl as she spoke smoothly with such intonations and body movements; and commented on some parts of the story while giggling. Apparently he had missed those funny events in consequent of his absence from the farm life.

Some moments after, late at night.

Tired of talking for the whole time, Claire laid her head on the bed just near Jack's lap, letting her quite messy hair for Jack had tousled it a while back then. With not many talks and the poor-lit room made her a bit sleepy, though she tried to be awake for that time.

"Do you like this town, Jack?" The girl asked out of blue. The young man just nodded.

"I wonder what kind of person Gotz's wife was?" Claire questioned, while looking blankly at the wall across her. Jack snorted spontaneously. "Now, that wasn't very polite. What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing, I'm just curious. He doesn't have any photograph of his family in his house," Claire answered. She then yawned. "But, he could be hiding it somewhere. Could be, right?"

"Did you even need to ask?" Jack just smiled, and Claire hummed as a reply.

And then, silence.

"You never told me about Chef and the others," Claire stated, and curled her eyebrows as though being upset. She wasn't, of course. The young man giggled awkwardly to that, and said, "I thought it might be more interesting if you found out about them yourself… no?"

"Well, yes, though unfortunately my first meeting with them wasn't that very much pleasing," Claire murmured. She remembered it right; it was a day after Jack got into the clinic for his heart attack. They had come to offer help for her, in the stead of Jack.

"I was surprised when a bird suddenly flew into this room, carrying an apple leaf," The young man explained shortly, and then he stopped to think about something for a while. But the girl didn't want to wait as for her that was a comma. It might seem weird for people in that period to be talking about something extra terrestrial like this, and at the top of it, for a person like Jack to talk about it. Hence, she wouldn't miss the chance.

So, she asked more about the bird he talked about before, and his explanation only made her smile grew wider. It was only a normal bird, so he said, with ash-brown feathers and white big spot on its chest. It was really not more of any special bird, for he often saw birds of its kind around the farm and, he assumed, maybe all over the small town. That day, he had waken up when that small bird made its way in from the window, and let go of a single apple leaf on Jack's bed, before returning to stop at the window frame.

"It then started chirping," Jack continued, and nodded when Claire suddenly cut with her question of whether the bird sounded like it was talking to him. "Though, I didn't understand what it meant, but I guessed it was something in relation with those seven; I remember Chef said they befriended with the birds, sort of."

That was how he knew that Chef and the others had probably come to the farm. The girl grinned gleefully. "Unthinkable, isn't it? Who knows there were sprites in this town?"

Scratching softly on his cheek, Jack looked rather embarrassed and unsure of the story he had told, and looked at his blanket again. He never thought he would experience, don't bother telling anybody about it. He was just glad that his companion didn't say that one word of 'magical'. At that moment instantly, he tapped his palm hand onto covering his face, and stayed still in that pose for some seconds. _Just hearing it embarrasses me_, was what went in his mind. Luckily for him, Claire was busy drifting away with her mind, as she recalled each story she had once read in town's library, and wondered if she would get to meet a being called 'kappa' later on, if she tried hard enough. She normally wouldn't like supernatural things and stories, but then that she had found out about the sprites, she guessed she wouldn't mind if they weren't scary-looking. She stopped and was reminded of a certain moral. Even though they were scary, but if they got a kind heart, it shouldn't be a problem for her. _But_, she began doubting. After a while, she shook her head and set her heart.

"It seemed to me that there are still a lot of things I don't know of in this town. Even so, I think I will love this place more, as I find out more," so Claire spoke, as she smiled excitedly, and leaned her head back on the bed. Jack's look did change when she said that, though it didn't come to her notice at all. So there they were, with the girl spoke calmly, while the young man was just simply looking at the girl's shining pale blonde hair.

Ignoring Claire's story, Jack was thinking about something else in his mind. _It's about time_, so he said in his head. He averted his gaze for a while to nothingness beside him, knowing that by doing what he was about to do, he would spare himself from the burden which had been hanging around him all this time. _It wouldn't be easy_, so his mind said, as if to persuade him into stopping. But, he knew about it already; that was why he must. Yes, he should do it; not for his sake, but instead—

"Claire,"

The girl stopped as her sentence was cut, and turned to look at Jack. The young man's eyes were fixed to hers. "There is something important which I have to tell you."

So far, Claire didn't like how it goes; so instead of waiting patiently, she giggled in a very uneasy way and said, "What is it, suddenly."

No, she didn't like it at all. She sensed the change of the atmosphere, and for her who has known Jack for quite a long time, she could realize quickly that whatever Jack was about to say, it wouldn't be much pleasing. And if she could choose, most likely she'd chose not to listen more, for somehow she knew that something would definitely change after that latter sentence. And she hated it. It had come to her understandings, but only that time a strange thought appeared within her; that sometimes, she had to admit, she hated it when Jack kept something from her.

"What, is this also a secret of yours? You like keeping them all for yourself very much, don't you?" Claire added; a bitter taste came to her mouth, though her lips made a slight curve. It was this sudden spark of upset feeling which urged her to say so. Jack made a gap by his lips in surprise, and seemed about to say something, but he stopped and closed them tight again, and had that regretful look on his eyes. That didn't comfort Clare at all.

"All this time," she spoke again, and had that shivering tone; that same tone she had when Jack and Kai went back from their fight. "No matter how much I try to understand you, there is always this wall you made that stops me. Acting as though there is nothing wrong, what do you think I am? A child? I have my limits too!"

_No, it's not like that._ That voice inside her head said, hence surprised her, as she knew it was probably the voice of her heart. _What—_

"I," Jack said, and stopped. He breathed out, at the same time choosing his later words carefully. Or, he tried to, but nor the time or his urge let him to do so. He spoke of his mind again, "I just, I took it too long, and I know that my silence must have burdened you all this time—"

"You _know? _Then why are you still doing it?"

"Claire, please!"

"No, you shut up! I don't want to hear anything!" She exclaimed, putting both hands on her ears so she wouldn't hear him anymore. In fact, she didn't need to, for Jack really did stop talking. She didn't dare raise her face up to see Jack; something bigger engulfed her. _Fear_.

_What am I doing?_

That one question kept on repeating itself in her head, subtracting more and more weight to her heart. Fragments she thought she had hid securely deep in her self were revealed and mixed up; making it too cramped for her to be able to think of anything. She was lost in the mixture of her own sinful feelings; her fear, guilt, anger, sadness. A part of her self wanted her body to disappear into ashes and got blown by the wind somewhere. Something was gnawing her inside, and cried unclearly to her own self, as she knew she had lied. It was horrible.

No, she actually didn't really lie; what she had just spouted were only some parts of the real words, or sentence, which she wanted to tell him. But even then, she still couldn't figure it out; she knew that whatever she wanted to say is already kept within her and was then ready to be shown, but she just didn't know what and how to state it. Realizing this, she pushed her brain to process more and even more; only to find that 'thing' she wanted to share._ What was the word? Or, was it not word, but action instead? What is it that I am going to tell him? Why can't I figure it out?_

At that silent but quick moment of time, the door's knob was turned open, and someone peeked before stepping in. It was the doctor himself. None of the two farmers did pay much attention to him, but from his latter voice, anyone could figure he had just woken up from his sleep. "Claire, would you like to use Elli's room? I have to say my apologies first, for I fell asleep and when I woke up, it has become this late. The air's pretty much cold, so I figured that you could be freezing here, and—"

Finally, Trent stopped his smooth-spoken sentences and realized that those two people across him had this strange aura around them. None of them talked; he could see the girl pressing both hands to own's ears, while Jack sat on the bed, with his body slightly turned to the girl, his face was dark of shadow. Trent was speechless for a while. "Er, is something wrong?"

It took them some seconds of silence.

"No," Claire said all of a sudden, and stood. "Actually, you came right in time, doctor. I don't mind using Elli's room, thanks."

"Wait!" Jack turned at her and held her hand, as she was about to walk away. Claire quickly resisted, pulling her hand further, thus making Jack lost his grip. Heaving, she held that hand which was held by Jack, and stared at him angrily. She then ran to doctor's place, and joined him upstairs.

The door was closed, with a deep but low sound, and the room soon filled with amid silence again.

.

-x:o:x-

.

.

The blonde girl left early that morning. As soon as she awoken, she waited for Dr. Trent to woke up to send her gratitude and slight farewell. That man looked rather calm; did not he mention a thing about the awkward situation she and Jack had made the previous night. Even so, Claire also stated her apology if she and Jack had ever bothered him this whole time; which by that doctor, only answered with a toneless sentence of "don't think much of it".

Hours passed by quickly, and without her concerning, it was two PM already. No wonder her stomach was growling; if she remembered it well, she didn't have any breakfast that day.

She touched her jeans upon her belly, as if trying to mollify it. She then gazed blankly to the large farm that stretched out in front of her. All of the works in the farm had been finished all by herself. Well, she was lucky as yesterday was the seventh day of help from the sprites; was also the busiest day of the month, she guessed. That present day, however, still left her some small works to do.

Noticing slight movements on her lowest part of trousers, she bent down and found Brownies huffing, with its tail swinging cheerfully. She smiled thinly, and stroked its head gently. She stopped.

"Bark," barked the dog, before licking its master's hand.

Claire softly embraced that dog, and felt its furry back with her cheek. She closed her eyes. That moment, after all the works she had done, was the calmest moment in her day. She stroked that dog's back again softly, hoping that would heal her ill heart, and sobbed in silent.

"Claire, what are you doing?" came a hoarse and deep voice from behind her. She knew right away who it was. She stood and wiped her eyes, still holding the dog within her arms, and walked toward the house.

Standing there was Zack the buyer. He was holding a quite large box with a white paper on it; probably written there was her name and address. She let go of Brownies and received the box.

"That's the mixer you ordered," said Zack, grinning. Claire answered with a weak "thanks" and smiled.

"Figured you'd be here," he laughed. "You see, that lad Cliff didn't answer when I asked him about you. 'I don't know a girl named Claire,' he said! What a boy."

Claire wrinkled her eyebrows, and smiled in confusion. "He what? He doesn't know me?"

"Yeah, that's what he said," answered Zack. Claire just snorted in her ridicule, feeling that Cliff's response was quite strange. Zack continued, "Well, I myself questioned him the same, you know. Eh, don't think bad of him! You know, er… I think he might be just trying to pull a joke. Like, he's always so serious about everything, right? Maybe in this case he was trying to ease up a bit!"

Claire answered with a low "yeah" answer but Zack didn't seem to hear that, so he kept on talking.

Something moved, and her very edge of eyesight caught a glimpse of it, so she averted her look carefully to the direction where she noticed it, for she didn't want Zack to think that she didn't pay attention to him. When she had quite a good sight of the person there, suddenly a cold shiver went to her neck. Her eyes widened in terror; her lips made a slight gap.

"Well, I'd say he made it well up to now. He's got a job at the winery, I heard," stated Zack, who seemed to have reached the end of his story. "A man's gotta do everything like a man, you know! And his effort shows it all. Ha ha ha! Well, maybe."

The grin faded from his face, as he noticed the girl had a weird response: she was looking down to her feet, and she was breathing heavily. He curled his face in curiousness. "What's the matter? Is something wrong, girl?"

But she didn't answer. At that time, Brownies growled and barked like mad from afar; it didn't ran to where Claire was, it just stayed there, barking, as if it didn't dare to.

Glimpses of bad memories she thought she had stored away came back, attacking her. She was heaving.

There was someone standing before the farm's fence, with his big and broad body.

It was Zack.

.

-x:o:x-

_To be continued._

_._

_._

_Next on Two Lives:_

"_Come here, dear child," echoed the voice._

"_She was acting weird," said the youngest man._

_The dark-haired man had a sharp look, and asked coldly, "This 'interacting universes' you mentioned about. Will you be able to show it to me?"_

"_No! I've got to go!" That young farmer tried to get up, enduring his pain, with only his hands sustaining his dead-like body. His heart beat like crazy. "I have to stop her! There is something that I have to tell her myself!"_

"_I am not afraid of you!" The blonde girl had her pitchfork gripped firmly in her hands. She was ready for anything; for she knew it wasn't the time for her to fear. Another feeling empowered her. "Show yourself!"_

_Pieces of facts and events that once shattered slowly moves to form the answer. The girl, who is trying to fight her fear, and the man, who is striving for life. Both of them move together to seek their ideal world. The biggest truth will be learned, the key will be revealed._

"_Two Lives Record 11: The World You Live In". Read and review please!_

_._

-x:o:x-

Harvest N.G.

"Y, you," Claire finally managed, while giving her best into looking at the man's ocher eyes. "What are you, in front of these children, you… you…" yanked Claire with an awkward piece of anger and a slight spark of weird joy.

"Jack's unbelievably great in doing it, you know," Stu finally said, his face was showing the same expression as though he had just witnessed something very strange.

Jack was holding onto a sewing needle with a yellow string. On his lap were small and beautiful dresses, with ribbons and all those frills, probably fit for dolls and such. There were also some cute accessories spread near him. Seeing that, May glee from her seat and swung her small feet. "Jack made them? Wow!"

"Don't say it like that, Stu! You make it sounds like I'm a weirdo," Jack protested. Never did anyone realize since when, but there was a flower ornament on his head already. "Right, Claire?"

"I," Claire's expression was blank. "I don't know what to say…"

_End of N.G._

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_._

_._

Author's Note:

The next Record might not have preview and/or Harvest N.G. due to the story it will tell. Thanks for reading this far!

~Incross


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